Mobile Suit Gundam SEED: Soldiers of Old
by ShadowCell
Summary: AU. The year is CE 73, and the pilots of the former Three Ships Alliance have returned to Earth to wage war against Orb's new Seiran government. But the soldiers of the new Orb Raiders are young, and the burdens of war are heavy...
1. Phase 01: Knights Without a Kingdom

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

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Disclaimer: _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED_, _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED DESTINY_, _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED CE 73 STARGAZER,_ _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED ASTRAY_, _Mobile Suit Gundam SEED MSV _and _SEED DESTINY MSV_ are the property of Bandai and Sunrise, not me. I make no money off this little venture. This is purely for entertainment purposes, and no copyright infringement is intended.

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I think _Gundam SEED_ and, more specifically, _Gundam SEED DESTINY_ suck. I have made this known to people. Some of _DESTINY_'s most ardent fans have, in their own way, challenged me to do better.

So I will.

This fanfic covers the story of a huge chunk of the original _SEED_ cast (at least, the ones that made it out of episode 49— man, Morosawa was out for blood in that one) and what they're doing in between _SEED_ and _DESTINY_. Reading my revised ending to _SEED_, "Seeds of Shadows," is probably a good idea to preclude any head-scratching and confusion, and "The Power to Protect" covers a few events alluded to herein as well. This fanfic is not exactly _necessary_ to understanding what happens later on in _DESTINY_, although it does fill in exactly what the hell Athrun and friends are doing in the two years between _SEED_ and _DESTINY_.

I will post a new chapter every Friday, or the soonest day thereafter should something arise on Friday to keep me from posting.

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Phase 01 - Knights Without a Kingdom

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**June 16th, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Pacific Ocean**

The Earth was always peaceful. Two years ago, it was filled with war, death, destruction, the pall of smoke that hovered like Death himself over the battlefield, waiting for someone to take a wrong step, to stand up too soon, to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. But somehow, the Earth always managed to wash away the dust and blood and put itself back together. It wasn't like space—in space, the wreckage of the battle surrounded the Earth in a cozy ring that couldn't be removed. But not the Earth—it always managed to go back to normal.

To Athrun Zala, that was the strangest thing about the Earth.

He stood on the open-air deck of the _Megami_, as the ship cruised lazily through the Pacific Ocean. His shift was over; the Justice Gundam, his loyal steed of almost two years, was in just as perfect condition today as it had been yesterday. Now, he had undone the collar of his purple undershirt, rolled up the sleeves of his blue and white Orb uniform, and stood on the deck, watching the sunset, his mind running laps.

He shook his head—absentmindedly reflecting on the nature of Earth and the nature of space wouldn't help him. He had something to fight for, but that wouldn't mean anything if he wasn't focused enough to fight for it. He was Cagalli's bodyguard now— Kisaka had returned to Orb, to fight with the Athha family loyalists and wage a guerrilla war against the Seiran government. He could not protect Cagalli now. That was on Athrun's shoulders.

Athrun turned at the sound of the deck door opening, and for a moment, he felt his body go stiff as he automatically whirled around to salute.

Cagalli Yula Athha stared back at him in surprise, as the breeze ruffled her decorated white Orb uniform. Athrun blinked awkwardly and let his arm drop. Cagalli shook her head and came up next to him, leaning on the railing, a hint of a smile on her lips.

"I guess I still don't know how to address you," Athrun admitted awkwardly, leaning next to her and staring uneasily out at the sunset again.

"It's okay," Cagalli said, just as awkwardly. "We're alone, so it doesn't matter."

Athrun looked down at the sea. "It's been two years," he said quietly. "Two years since Orb collapsed."

"Has it?" Cagalli wearily asked. Athrun nodded soberly.

"Two years to the day," he said. "The day he sent you to space on the _Kusanagi_."

Cagalli looked away unhappily. "The day he died," she added.

Athrun was silent a moment. "The day he died," he agreed.

They were silent again.

"We're back now, though," Cagalli said, her voice gaining an edge of her characteristic fiery determination. "Two years ago he died…but now he's back. Now _we're_ back. And now we can finally get down to fighting the Seirans, like we were meant to all along."

Athrun glanced at her in the fading light. Even with only one battleship and about thirty mobile suits, she was determined to topple an entire nation and bring it back to the order and peace and security and nobility it had once held.

He looked back at the sea.

It was what Kira would have done.

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**Yokosuka Naval Station, Japan, Republic of East Asia**

The VTOL plane jolted as it landed, and orange-uniformed crews began to swarm over it. The cargo bay doors began to lazily open, but whatever was inside could not yet be seen, concealed by the plane's hull.

Standing on the deck of his ship, Lieutenant Commander Ian Lee crossed his arms expectantly.

The _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_ sat silently in port, its dark hull blending in easily with the dark industrial grays and blacks of the port. Not far away, a round Osprey VTOL transport plane was being unloaded, undoubtedly carrying mobile suits. Ideally they would be carrying a squad of the Atlantic Federation's new Dagger Ls— some ships in the fleet were still using the Alliance's old mass-produced Strike Daggers, and there were even a few ships in space that were still using Mobius mobile armors. Clearly something had to be done about that— Lee refused to work with subpar weapons when the Atlantic Federation could provide better.

The first mobile suit tramped out of the hangar, with a folded Jet Striker on its back. Lee nodded as the Dagger L stomped towards the _Mephistopheles_' open hangar. They weren't _great_ mobile suits, but they were better than Strike Daggers. ZAFT was clearly the master in terms of mobile suit development, Lee had to grudgingly admit, and the Alliance could only make up for ZAFT's quality with quantity.

The door to the deck opened. Lee glanced over his shoulder, and turned to face the person coming onto the deck.

Major Alison MacIntyre was an unusual woman. The daughter of Grand Admiral James MacIntyre, commander of the Atlantic Federation's surface fleets and the primary naval advisor to President Copland, she had an air of authority around her, even though it was Lee in command of the _Mephistopheles_ and not her. She was, Lee supposed, somewhat attractive, although admittedly he had no such appetite as to be a judge of that. However, instead of making her pleasing to the eye, her attractiveness instead lent her a sharp, imposing figure, in a trimmed and starched Earth Alliance uniform, with the knee-length skirt to remind everyone that she was indeed a woman. She had long black hair, cold blue eyes, and a general demeanor of seriousness and self-respect that put off any man stupid enough to hit on her. She was as professional as professional came.

That was what Lee liked best about her. That Mudie Holcroft girl in the Phantom Pain unit had absolutely baffled him— he had no clue that Atlantic Federation soldiers were even allowed to dress like that.

"Captain," she greeted with a dutiful salute. Lee saluted back and turned his attention back to the VTOL, as a Buster Dagger stepped out of the cargo bay.

"We're taking on our final supplies," he said. "The new machine should be on this plane."

"The pilot's still asleep," she answered, leaning against the rail. "It'll be a while before he wakes up."

Lee felt the hint of a scowl twist onto his face. That damned Extended was the reason why Major MacIntyre was here— she was his caretaker and observer, charged with the task of supervising him in combat, recording his performance and condition throughout their tour of duty, and reporting it back to that dark, intimidating complex on Lodonia Island in the Mediterranean Sea. The _Mephistopheles_ had been required to dock there to pick up their baneful Extended subject. Now they were at Yokosuka, to pick up his machine.

A Duel Dagger, sporting gleaming Fortrestra armor, marched into the hangar. Lee looked up into the VTOL plane's cargo bay. There was still another Duel Dagger left, but there was also an imposing shape behind it that Lee guessed was the new machine.

"What are our orders, Captain?" Alison inquired. Lee glanced back at her. "My job is to oversee Jack and record his performance, but the orders of this ship haven't been specified."

Lee looked back at the plane, as the workers began to remove the locks on the remaining Duel Dagger. "The Orb Raiders are making their move," he said. "They're straying too close to Equatorial Union waters, so in the interest of providing your Extended with something to fight, we will make a preemptive attack."

"I wish you wouldn't refer to him as 'my Extended,' Captain," Alison shot back. "He's not mine. He's his own person."

The second Duel Dagger stepped into the _Mephistopheles_' hangar.

"Major," Lee responded tiredly, "I commanded this ship in space early last year, and was sent to retrieve three such biological CPUs and their machines. I am weary of these artificially modified humans, and I do not want them on my ship."

Lee went silent, as he and Alison looked up in surprise at the next machine. It had the body of a Dagger L, but with thick black panels on the outward sides of its arms and legs, and three folded vanes on each of its shoulders. It had a shield and a beam rifle, and an enormous backpack that looked like a Jet Striker on its back.

And, of course, it had the face of a Gundam.

"GAT-X117 Diablo," Alison said, looking up admiringly at the machine. "It's been tuned to every electric signal that goes through Jack's brain. It's a nice new machine."

Lee scowled. More fun with this damn Extended.

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**Aube, United Emirates of Orb**

Unato Ema Seiran was not a happy man when the reports came in.

He stood in his office, arms crossed, listening grimly to the reports from a shaky junior officer standing rigidly before his desk. To the side, Unato's son Jona sat by, bored, with a glass of bourbon in hand, listening with what seemed like half an ear to the nervous officer.

"What is their bearing?" Unato asked harshly. "Where are they going?"

"They're in the Caroline Islands right now, sir," the officer responded anxiously. "We don't know— "

"They're probably coming here," Jona said tiredly. The officer and Unato looked at him in surprise. He glanced indifferently at them. "Cagalli would make no bones about what she's going to do, would she?"

"No," Unato agreed dourly, "she wouldn't." He looked at the officer. "Dismissed."

The officer hastily saluted and fled, and Jona rose wearily to his feet, waiting until the door closed. "She's finally making her move," he said.

"Jona, we've already talked about this," Unato grumbled. "Give up that plan to marry her, unite the Seiran and Athha families, and cripple the Sahakus. Mina is content to hide out on Ame-no-Mihashira, and so long as we have control of the national budget, she can't finish construction, and we'll be fine."

"For now," Jona shot back. "But she won't sit up there on that orbital elevator forever. Sooner or later she'll make a move too, and when that happens, the Seiran family will have to be thoroughly entrenched in this country's government."

"What makes you think Cagalli will be of any help?" Unato scoffed. "Uzumi's policies are unpopular now that they've brought suffering on Orb. Cagalli would choose to continue those foolish policies, and she would be a liability."

"Father, you assume that I would fail to defang her before bringing her into the fold," Jona said with a thin smile. "Cagalli is still popular for her position. Nobody knows about her policy stances, and nobody ever will, because I will not let her articulate those stances. She is useful for her prestige and nothing more. Otherwise she will get our country burned down again."

"We're going to get burned down again either way," Unato shot back. "With Djibril in charge of Blue Cosmos and Copland in Djibril's pocket, it won't be long before they make their move, and when that happens, it will be the beginning of the end for us all."

Jona scowled and looked contemptuously out the window of Unato's office.

"Orb will not be burned down again," Jona said. "We shall never endure the indignity of being a protectorate ever again." He glanced at Unato. "No, Father, Cagalli has to be found, before she can bring the nations of the world crashing down on us."

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**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Pacific Ocean**

Lacus Clyne was a fairly unfamiliar sight on the _Megami_. She was a leader and had a knack for politics, but the _Megami_ had spent the last two years in a silent, ghostly debris field that had once been Heliopolis, where Cagalli was the undisputed leader and everyone was far from politics. Nobody had asked her about Kira's death, because nobody had had a chance— whatever feelings she had about it were buried in a deep grave. She did odd jobs around the ship— she would never allow herself to be useless— but the war had taken something from her.

So at the very least, it made sense to Sai Argyle why he felt like Indiana Jones entering the Temple of Doom.

Standing before her door, hand timidly raised to knock, Sai tried to think back to why he was here in the first place. Lacus had sent a call up to the bridge about something, Sai had no idea what, and had requested that she send someone with computer programming skills to her room to help her with something. Athrun Zala was nowhere to be found, so Murrue sent Sai.

Sai plucked up his courage and knocked. A moment later, the door slid open.

Even in the depths of what seemed like mourning, Lacus Clyne was an immaculate dresser. But her thin, light blue summer dress did not make her look any happier; although she still had the typical dignity and calm that she had carried around herself during the war, it was tinted with sadness— faint but visible, something that was there no matter what.

Lacus Clyne blinked at him for a moment and smiled politely. "Thank you for coming so quickly," she said kindly, stepping aside. Sai nervously stepped into her room.

Lacus, of course, was far from slovenly. Her room was as immaculate as her person, so Sai guessed that at least some of her time was spent cleaning her quarters.

"So, um, what's the problem?" Sai asked tactlessly, immediately feeling stupid. If Lacus noticed, she didn't say anything; she instead led him to her computer terminal.

"I'm looking through PLANT news reports," she said, "because I'm suspicious about Chairman Dullindal and the means by which he came to power. I came across this file, about the investigation into Chairwoman Canaver's assassination," she paused and brought up the indicated file, "but when I tried to open it, it said the file is corrupted." She looked back at Sai; he absently noticed how the sadness seemed to fade when she was doing something. "I don't think it's simply 'corrupted,' though."

She stepped aside, pulling the chair out for Sai, and he seated himself and cracked his knuckles. "Seems suspicious," he agreed. 'It's too convenient that files about the investigation just happen to be 'corrupted.'" He set to work checking the file for signs of tampering. "This'll take a few minutes."

Lacus stood off to the side patiently. This was simple; Sai broke the file's locks in seconds and breezed past the "corruption," deciphering the file in a matter of minutes.

"Thank you, Mr. Argyle," she said with another polite smile. Sai stood up and stepped aside, and she followed him to the door. "I appreciate your help."

Sai paused before he left, and turned around. "Call me Sai," he said. Lacus blinked at him for a moment, and then nodded, smiling again.

"Alright, Sai," she said. "Good night."

Sai headed back to the bridge feeling unusually good.

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A card landed on the table, and with a sigh, Dearka Elthman tossed his remaining cards down with them.

"I give up," he said resignedly. "Before you win everything else I own."

On the other side of the table, Miriallia happily collected a quintet of candy bars off the table in the mess hall. "I don't _want_ some of the stuff you own," she shot back with a grin. Dearka shook his head.

"I don't get it," he complained. "By day you're a cute little girl with malice towards none and optimism for all, and by night you're a vicious card shark. Can't I have one of those back for consolation?"

"No," Milly said quickly, immediately unwrapping one off her prizes and biting into it contently. "You just need to remember how to play Egyptian war and maybe then you'll put up a better fight."

Dearka sighed once more in defeat and slumped back in his chair. "I need to start conning Athrun into playing for stuff," he said. "Athrun royally blows at these games."

"Dearka!" Milly said with mock offense. "Are you considering ripping off your friends?"

"What else are friends for?" Dearka countered, looking back at her with a wry smirk. Milly shook her head and took another bite from her candy bar.

"Friends are for lots of things, you dope," she said. "And ripping them off to make yourself feel better is certainly not one of them."

"You just ripped me off," Dearka replied.

"You blew it fair and square," Milly countered. "Don't try that on me, Dearka, it's your fault and your fault alone that you suck."

Dearka sat back again with a sigh. "Well, knowing my luck, Athrun would pull some outrageously lucky card out of thin air and he'd wind up winning the Buster from me or something," he said resignedly. "So can I have a candy bar yet?"

Milly tossed one at him in mock annoyance, and he happily tore it open and bit into it. "So where are we all going?" she asked. Dearka shrugged.

"Somewhere near Orb, I'd wager," he said, "though I'm sure someone will talk Cagalli out of going in all guns blazing soon enough."

Milly sighed. "She's so gung-ho," she said resignedly. "Sometimes I wish I could be that enthusiastic."

"Oh no you don't," Dearka interjected, looking sharply at her. Milly blinked in surprise. "Cagalli is nuts and gung-ho because she's Cagalli and she's got a bunch of people around to hold her back if she insists on doing something stupid. You don't. So for everyone's sake, stay calm and cautious, please. We could use a voice of reason around here."

Milly blinked at him a moment, before she smiled and shook her head. "If you're trying to get into my pants, it's not going to work," she giggled.

"I gave up on that long ago," Dearka shot back huffily. "Besides, now it would cause drama and we already have Yzak to make enough drama for us."

Milly shook her head again with a sigh. "Well, whatever happens," she said, "I'm sure it will be interesting."

Dearka sat back, smiling wryly. "It always is."

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**June 17th, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Yokosuka Naval Station, Japan, Republic of East Asia**

Ian Lee settled into the captain's chair on the bridge of the _Mephistopheles_. The _Archangel_-class was a fine class of warship— Lee could see why the Atlantic Federation had been so desperate to get the original _Archangel_ to JOSH-A during the Valentine War.

He glanced around. Unlike the _Archangel_, the _Mephistopheles_ was manned with a well-trained and full crew, supplied amply for a long mission. The mobile suits were ready as well, loaded up for a battle at sea with a powerful foe.

Lee glanced at the helmsman, an overwhelmed-looking brown-haired Ensign named Jason. "Helmsman," Lee said authoritatively, "are we ready?"

"Yes sir," Jason answered nervously. Lee looked out the bridge windows— it was a fine morning to do some sailing.

"Our orders are to engage the Orb Raiders?" asked Alison's voice. Lee glanced over his shoulder, finding her in a bridge chair nearby, and he nodded.

"They were last spotted in the Caroline Islands," he said. "We will set course for that general area and begin searching." He looked to the rest of the bridge. "Helmsmen, are our engines up to speed?"

"All engines are running at optimal levels," reported Brian, the even more overwhelmed-looking co-helmsman. "We're ready to launch, sir."

Lee sat back. The time had come.

"_Mephistopheles,_" he announced, "launch at once! All ahead full!"

"All ahead full!" Jason repeated, as the _Mephistopheles_ began to move.

"Sensor officer," Lee continued, glancing down towards the _Mephistopheles_' CIC, "begin searching for a heat signature twice as high as that of this ship when we are twenty kilometers out of port."

"Yes sir!" the sensor officer, a young man named Eric, answered enthusiastically. Lee crossed his arms as the _Mephistopheles_ inched out of port. Somewhere out there, the Orb Raiders were waiting. He would find them.

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**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Pacific Ocean**

Murrue Ramius had few opportunities to slip away from the _Megami_'s bridge, and when one of those rare opportunities appeared, she seized it. And so she found herself on the _Megami_'s deck, enjoying the cool breeze of a morning on the open ocean. Mwu stood next to her, his arm affectionately over her shoulder; she leaned happily against him. It was all too pleasing— for a moment, they could both pretend that they were normal adults, in a normal relationship, enjoying a normal moment together on a normal day.

"So," Mwu began, "who's going to talk Cagalli out of charging valiantly into certain doom?"

"I'm not going to," Murrue said tiredly. "I respect Cagalli as a leader and like her as a friend, but I do not want to try to dissuade her from something. I'm not made of stuff that stern."

Mwu chuckled. "Is that why Athrun likes her?" he asked amusedly. "I'm sure Andy can do it, he seems to have a way with obstinate kids."

Murrue sighed and shook her head. "Well, that's what we're all here for," she said.

"Yeah," Mwu agreed, "That's what us adults are for, I guess. Someone needs to keep them from going insane."

There was a pause. "Are you getting along with Yzak yet?" Murrue asked.

Mwu blinked. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well after all the complaining you did— " Murrue began with a smirk.

"Oh, it was not that much," Mwu groused. "Besides, you'd complain about the little emo bastard too."

"He can't be that bad," Murrue laughed.

"Oh, wanna bet?" Mwu asked, looking down at her. "'Hey Yzak,' I ask, 'can you give me a hand with this actuator?' And what does he do? He just _stares_ at me, for a whole minute, and then turns and hides in the Duel. While I'm sitting here with this giant metal cylinder in my arms, trying not to let it go and send it spiraling across the hangar, he just freaking _stares_ at me."

It was all Murrue could do not to laugh at him. "Well, are you getting along with him _now_?" she asked through giggles.

Mwu sighed. "Yes, mom," he said airily. Murrue only laughed some more.

"You'd be so lucky to have me for a mother," she said. "Now play nice with the other boys and mommy won't have to put you in the corner."

The laughter faded, and Mwu and Murrue stared silently over the horizon.

"When this is all over," Mwu said, looking down at her, "you wanna get married?"

Murrue looked back at him, smiling. "Ask me again," she said, "when it's all over."

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The Duel Gundam's left-hand shoulder Assault Shroud armor swung ponderously through the air as Yzak Jule moved it into position over the Duel's left shoulder.

"Okay, stop!" a voice called out from somewhere down below. "Start lowering!"

Yzak sighed and pushed the lever forward; the armor piece began to slowly descend over the Duel's shoulder.

"It should be lighter now," the voice of Erica Simmons added from Yzak's side on the platform. Yzak watched carefully as the armor was lowered into place and a pair of mechanics began attaching it.

"It's gone down by almost seven metric tons," Yzak said, "so it better be."

"The thrusters should be able to support you in the atmosphere too," Erica added, leaning against the railing. "We spent a week on them and their output is up by fifty percent."

Yzak looked up at the Duel. "It will work," he said confidently.

"So," Erica said, looking over at Yzak, "why are you doing this?" Yzak glanced in surprise at her. "It's got to be something big. Why?"

Yzak looked away. "It's not important," he said curtly.

"Of course it's important," Erica countered. "What could be more important than the reason why you fight?"

Yzak scowled. "Why am I fighting, you ask?" he said quietly. His fists clenched around the gantry controls. "You saw what happened to my mother."

Erica's smile vanished. "Yeah," she said quietly, "I saw. And— "

"Okay!" a mechanic below called out. "Right shoulder! We'll load the railgun when we get it attached!"

Yzak moved the crane over to pick up the Assault Shroud's railgun-equipped right-hand shoulder armor.

"That," he said coldly, "is why I fight."

Erica looked back towards the Duel and tried to think of statistics to talk about.

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"It's ugly," Andy said flatly.

Across the hangar, as Yzak attached the Duel's Assault Shroud, Andrew Bartfeldt stood by the side of his long-suffering aide, Martin DaCosta, staring up at the not particularly imposing form of the Aegis Gundam.

Andy, dressed in his striking white-and-blue Orb uniform, put his two hands, one flesh and blood, the other a concoction of plastics and robotics, against the railing, and stared up with his two eyes, one natural, one mechanical, at the Aegis's face.

"Where did we even get it?" he asked, glancing at DaCosta.

"The Junk Guild," DaCosta answered with a shrug. "Orb collected the pieces after Athrun detonated it in the Marshall Islands and stuck them on the _Kusanagi_. The Junk Guild bought them, and after we got to Heliopolis, they sold it back to us refurbished."

Andy looked back up at the Aegis. "They changed the Phase Shift, right?" he asked. "I'm not flying a pink mobile suit."

"It's red, yellow, and black, just like you asked, sir," DaCosta said cautiously. "Upgraded with an N-Jammer Canceller, nuclear reactor, two beam cannons in the waist binders, and enough thruster output to fly in the Earth's atmosphere."

Andy heaved a sigh. "This is too surreal," he said. "Athrun blew this thing up over two years ago…and here I am piloting it again. It's as if the past just won't stay in the past."

DaCosta shrugged again. "Well," he said, "it should be good for us all to have you on the battlefield."

Andy smirked. "'Course it'll be," he said with a chuckle. "Can't let Mwu get all the fun."

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**June 18th, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Pacific Ocean**

"You look stressed, Major," Lee commented wryly as he looked across the bridge at Alison's face. She glanced at him in surprise. "The _Mephistopheles_ is a fast ship. As soon as we find the Orb Raiders, we will not have long to wait."

"I'm anxious to get this assignment over with, Captain," she said, looking back out over the ocean. "I'm sure you understand why."

Lee stood up and walked towards her. "That, Major, is why I am skeptical about that Extended on my ship," he said. "It is your responsibility to combat-test it, but— "

"Why are you calling him 'it?'" Alison asked, swinging around to face him. "He's not an 'it,' he's a human being. Why can't you regular officers see that?"

"Major," Lee said steadily, in too low a voice for the crew to hear, "Jack O'Hara has been modified and altered more than a Coordinator. Like the rest of the Extended, that _thing_ is too unstable to be reliable. I grow weary of dealing with these pilots that have to be sent back to their cradle every time something happens."

Alison scowled at Lee. "Captain," she said in a measured, calm voice, "Jack is under my care. I have spent the past sixteen months supervising and training him. You will see that he is a human being and not just a tool, of that you can be certain."

She stormed off the bridge without a further word, and Lee suppressed a sigh and shook his head. After that debacle with those three biological CPUs in February of CE 72, it should have been evident to High Command that Lieutenant Commander Ian Lee and Extended did not go well together. But once again, here he was, stuck on a ship with an Extended.

"Captain," a low, gruff voice began. Lee turned, finding his executive officer and CIC supervisor approaching.

Lieutenant Gregory Murphy was a tall, muscular man with graying hair and skin so heavily tanned by now it was a rich bronze, wrapped in a uniform that seemed a touch too small. He dutifully saluted.

"What is it?" Lee asked, returning his salute just as dutifully.

"Chief Warrant Officer Jameson has something on the infrared he thinks you should take a look at," Murphy said. Lee nodded— the two descended down into the darkened CIC, finding the thin, pale Eric Jameson intently watching his screens, the green radar screen casting an eerie glow over his face.

"Captain," Eric said with a curt salute, "I think I've found the Orb Raiders' ship, sir." He switched his screen over to infrared displays, panning over a wide swath of the Pacific Ocean. The screen stopped over one particularly bright spot— Eric zoomed in on it, and it displayed the vague outline of an _Archangel_-class, with something enormous on the stern.

"I would wager that's it," Murphy put in. "Don't know of any ships in our fleet that have some giant engine strapped to the stern."

"It probably is," Lee agreed. "Either way, we will get close enough to know for sure. Warrant Officer Jameson, route this data to the navigator." He turned and climbed back onto the bridge as Jameson set to work. "Navigator!" Lee exclaimed. "Set course for the coordinates indicated by the CIC!"

"Aye sir," came the response, as the unfazed-looking Chief Warrant Officer Simmons set to work plotting a new course.

Lee turned, looking out towards the horizon. It was time to go back to war.

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**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Pacific Ocean**

The bridge was alive with movement as the sensors went off.

"What's going on?!" Murrue demanded as she arrived on the bridge and took up her usual station.

"We're detecting a battleship-level heat signature!" Chandra exclaimed over his shoulder. "It looks like an _Archangel_-class!"

"_Archangel_-class?!" Murrue echoed. "Here?!"

"Visual confirmation!" Jackie called from his own station. An image of a dark-painted _Archangel_-class battleship coming on from the northeast filled the bridge monitor, its catapult deck slowly opening.

"Captain, the catapults— " Sai began.

"All hands, battle stations!" Murrue ordered. "Release the weapons and the mobile suits! Let's go!"

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**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Pacific Ocean**

Lee watched indifferently from the bridge as the Diablo Gundam stepped onto the catapult and prepared to launch. "Major," he said coldly, "you told me I would see just how valuable this Extended of yours is."

Alison crossed her arms and stared forward intently. "And you will," she said, just as coldly.

Lee glanced down into the CIC, at the uncomfortable-looking MS deck operator, Warrant Officer Shelia Ferguson. "Clear the Diablo for launch," he ordered.

Down in the hangar, inside the Diablo, the face of the pilot was obscured by shadows and a helmet to a red and black Earth Alliance flight suit.

"Diablo cleared for launch," Shelia announced.

The Diablo's pilot slowly raised his eyes, and the light finally made its way over his face, illuminating a young man's face with glittering blue eyes and wispy black hair.

"Jack O'Hara, Diablo," he called out, "_taking off!_"

The Diablo Gundam took off with a roar.

——————————————————————————————————————————

To be continued…


	2. Phase 02: The Caucasus Wolf

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

——————————————————————————————————————————

Phase 02 - The Caucasus Wolf

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 18th, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Pacific Ocean**

Athrun Zala grunted in annoyance as he strapped himself into the cockpit of the Justice Gundam. They hadn't been on Earth for two days and already someone was attacking them. It was an _Archangel_-class and it was already launching mobile suits. And according to the visual scans, one of the machines was a strange new model that nobody had ever seen before.

"Enemy _Archangel_-class has launched twenty mobile suits," Miriallia's voice said urgently, as Athrun closed the visor of his helmet. "We're going to launch the Gundams first, then a squad of Murasames." There was the briefest of pauses. "Athrun Zala, you are clear for launch."

Athrun narrowed his eyes at the clear blue sky before him. It was about to get a whole lot less clear.

"Athrun Zala, Justice," he called, "_moving out!_"

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_**

"The Orb Raiders ship is launching mobile suits," reported Eric from the CIC. On the bridge, Lee looked up ahead at the _Megami_. It had the legs and wings of an _Archangel_-class, the engines and catapult deck of Orb's _Izumo_-class, and the main body and engine pods of ZAFT's _Eternal_-class. It was an odd-looking amalgam of warships that was painted entirely in red and black— Lee guessed that it had superior weapons as well.

"It looks like one hell of a warship," Murphy's voice rumbled through Lee's headset. He scanned over the mobile suits.

"We shall see," he said grimly. "Weapons control! Aim the Gottfrieds and Valiants at that ship's engines! We'll try to capture it first!"

"Aiming Gottfrieds and Valiants at the enemy warship's engines!" the weapons officer, Ronald, responded. Lee watched the _Mephistopheles_' Gottfried cannons rise ponderously from the tops of the ship's legs and extend their barrels towards the _Megami_.

"Major," he added as an afterthought, glancing over at Alison, "you may begin your exercises."

Alison stood up and donned a headset. "Doctor Peterson," she said tremulously, "the Diablo has launched. Standby to activate the Psyco System on my mark."

"The mobile suit squadrons have made contact with the enemy," Shelia reported from out of the CIC.

"Captain?" Alison began, glancing at Lee.

"Wait," Lee instructed. "We'll let our mobile suits engage them regularly first."

——————————————————————————————————————————

Yzak Jule dove through a blaze of beam blasts and sent the Duel Gundam into a dizzying dive. The Duel's atmospheric handling was good enough— however, those Jet Dagger Ls were far more formidable than he had first assumed. One of them pitched down to follow him and unleashed a hail of rockets; Yzak cursed under his breath and took off, skimming along the ocean, as the missiles slammed into the water and exploded on impact.

Up above, the Dagger L opened fire with a bazooka— Yzak's eyes widened as the shell slammed into his shield and sent him hurtling back towards the water. The Dagger charged, raising its bazooka for another blow—

A thick yellow beam slashed through the air, stopping the Dagger short, and the Buster Gundam put itself between the Duel and the Dagger.

"Yzak!" Dearka shouted. "Are you alright?!"

"He's going down!" Yzak screamed; the Duel rocketed up over the Buster's head and returned fire with its beam rifle, blowing the bazooka out of the Dagger's hand. The Dagger drew its beam carbine and backpedaled, deflecting the Duel's shots with its shield.

"They're just grunts!" Dearka exclaimed, wheeling around as a railgun shell whizzed by the Buster's shoulder. Another shell slammed into him head-on, throwing him backwards; he activated the thrusters and looked up, catching a glimpse of a Buster Dagger combining its guns and taking aim with its hyper impulse cannon. With a yelp of surprise, he took off above the thick yellow beam and roared into the sky. The Buster Dagger disconnected its guns and followed.

"These guys aren't ordinary Alliance pilots," Dearka muttered, as the Buster Dagger fired a salvo of missiles. Dearka braced for the impact— he remembered the Buster's new CIWS installed in the head and opened fire, cutting the missiles down. As the smoke rose over the battlefield, Dearka dropped towards the ocean and took off along the water's surface.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The beam sabers met with a shower of sparks, and inside the Aile Strike Gundam, Mwu La Fllaga grunted as he felt his mobile suit rattle. The Strike was performing well…but so was this Jet Dagger L.

The Dagger backed away and charged again, beam saber in hand— Mwu skirted aside and tried to slash it in half, but the Dagger deflected his blow with its shield and pulled back with a hail of CIWS fire.

"These aren't any regulars," Mwu muttered to himself, diving down towards the sea. He looked up, as the Dagger followed— up above, Andy was circling the sky in the Aegis Gundam, in a vicious aerial dogfight with another Jet Dagger L.

"These guys must be aces or something!" Andy exclaimed, as the Aegis ducked beneath a beam rifle shot. The Aegis tried to fire upwards into the Dagger's torso, but the Dagger deflected the shot with its shield and took off, raining missiles on the retreating Aegis.

"Our machines aren't aging well," Mwu grunted, as the Dagger and the Strike slammed together again. "Upgrading the internals only does so much!"

The Dagger pushed off from the Strike violently and drew something out of its left hip armor. Mwu's eyes widened in surprise as a familiar white bolt split the air in front of him— the Dagger hurled a small pointed object at him, and he moved his shield to block it—

A moment later, a thunderous explosion sent the Strike reeling back. "What the hell was _that?!_" Mwu screamed as the Strike dropped towards the sea. The Dagger burst through the smoke and charged, beam carbine raised—

The Aegis dropped in to deflect the Dagger's blast with its shield and fire back with its beam rifle.

"Mwu!" Andy shouted. "Are you okay?!"

Mwu shook his head in frustration and reactivated the thrusters, pushing the Strike back into the air. "These guys are something else!"

The Dagger up above dropped down with a saber slash— the second Dagger skirted around the struggling Aegis, and Mwu charged at it with a yell, brandishing his saber.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_**

"They're not average grunts," Murrue muttered as she watched the mobile suits battle.

"_Archangel_-class is increasing speed!" Chandra exclaimed. "Captain! They're turning around us!"

"Increase to flank!" Murrue ordered. "Release all weapons! Miriallia, launch the Murasame squad!"

"I can't!" Milly shouted back. "They don't have a clear launch path!"

Murrue scowled at the Daggers on the battlefield, as they kept their duels with the Gundams directly in the path of the _Megami_'s catapults.

"Neumann!" Murrue exclaimed. "Take us forty meters higher! We'll launch the Murasames over their heads!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

Athrun grunted as the Justice Gundam dove backwards, avoiding a vicious beam rifle blast from the Diablo Gundam. It came storming towards him, its beam rifle blazing— Athrun pulled away and fired back, but the Diablo twisted out of his beam rifle blast's path and stormed up towards him.

"This guy…" Athrun hissed; the Diablo drew a beam saber.

Inside the Diablo, Jack O'Hara cackled with delight.

"You look like you're scared!" he screamed. "Well you should be! _YOU SHOULD BE!_"

The Diablo charged; Athrun clenched his teeth and deflected its saber blow with his shield. He pushed the Diablo away and tried to fire back with his beam rifle— Jack laughed and charged back into the Justice's face before it could fire, cutting the beam rifle in two.

"_What?!_" Athrun exclaimed. He abandoned the ruined beam rifle to explode in the Diablo's face and pulled back.

"That's not gonna trick me!" Jack screamed, bursting through the smoke with a CIWS salvo. Athrun pulled back behind his shield, drawing a beam saber of his own.

"This guy's unreal," Athrun grunted, as the Diablo swung in for another attack. Athrun swung back, slamming his saber against the Diablo's— the Diablo pushed Athrun back with sheer brute force and opened fire with a pair of beam cannons on its subflight lifter. Athrun smacked the shots away with his shield and backed off, as the Diablo followed with a roar.

"Come back here!" Jack shouted, swinging his saber wildly after the retreating Justice. "You're not getting away that easily!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_**

"The Diablo has engaged the enemy -X09A Justice," Shelia reported from the CIC. Alison glanced across the bridge at Lee.

"Athrun Zala's unit," Lee said stoically. "Your Extended has chosen a tall first test."

"Doctor Peterson," she said into her headset, "the Diablo has engaged the Justice."

"Shall we activate the Psyco System?" Peterson's voice replied. Alison watched the Diablo carefully for a moment.

"Negative," she answered. "We'll let Jack fight normally for the time being."

She looked over at Lee harshly. He said nothing.

"Captain!" David, one of the electronic warfare specialists, shouted out of the CIC. "The enemy ship is engaging its weapons!"

"Time to see what this ship can do," Lee said. "Gottfrieds, Valiants, aim for the engines! _FIRE!_"

The Gottfrieds and Valiants fired with a roar— Lee watched the two blazing railgun shells and four thick green beams lance out towards the _Megami_. The _Megami_ slowly banked out of harm's way and returned fire with four Gottfried cannon blasts.

"Hard to port!" Lee shouted. "Evasive maneuvers!"

The _Mephistopheles_ tilted aside as the four beams streaked by harmlessly. Lee grunted and eyed the _Megami_ carefully as it leveled itself out.

"Flank speed!" he ordered. "Load the missile tubes with Sledgehammers! Prepare to fire a full spread!"

"Full spread, aye!" the weapons officer, Ron, acknowledged from his station behind Lee's chair. "Targeting enemy warship's engines!"

"Activate the Igelstellungs," Lee added. "They'll probably launch missiles next." He glanced over at Alison. "Major, I advise you to take a seat. Things will be getting bumpy shortly."

Alison hesitantly returned to her seat and fastened her safety belt, watching the Diablo in action.

"Target acquired!" Ron exclaimed.

"Sledgehammers, fire!"Lee ordered.

The _Mephistopheles_' anti-ship missile launchers roared to life, and two dozen powerful anti-ship missiles took off, lancing forward and arcing around towards the rising _Megami_.

"Captain, they're trying to launch more mobile suits!" shouted James, the other electronic warfare specialist in the CIC. The Sledgehammers streaked in towards the _Megami— _an inferno of CIWS fire from the ship's hull cut them all down, throwing a cloud of smoke over the ship as it pulled back.

"Helm, bring the ship around!" Lee shouted. "Gottfrieds, Valiants, prepare for another round! Open fire on my mark!"

The _Megami_ continued to rise, and its catapult decks began to open. The _Mephistopheles_ banked around it, Gottfrieds taking aim at the _Megami_'s engines.

"Multiple heat sources detected!" Eric exclaimed from the CIC. "Missiles, sir!"

"Igelstellungs, shoot them down!" Lee ordered. The Igelstellungs shrieked to life, tearing the missile volley apart as the missiles came darting out of the smoke.

"Captain, we'll never find them with all this smoke!" Murphy's voice warned from the headset. "We need to clear it!"

"Gottfrieds, Valiants, aim fifteen degrees higher than the enemy ship's last known bearing!" Lee ordered. "If we're lucky we'll hit them through the smoke!"

"Aiming fifteen degrees above course zero-three-seven!" Ron acknowledged. The Gottfrieds and Valiants fired again, blowing the smoke cloud apart; Lee cursed under his breath, finding his vessel's shots blazing harmlessly over the _Megami_ as it descended closer to the sea.

"Whoever that captain is, he knows what he's doing," Lee grunted.

"Captain, enemy ship is turning to engage us!" James exclaimed.

"Helm, I'll leave evasive action to you!" Lee said.

"Aye sir!" Jason responded. Lee watched the _Megami_ carefully. Whoever was in command on that ship, he was a damned good captain.

——————————————————————————————————————————

"They can't be this hard to beat!" Dearka grunted as the Buster Dagger fired its combined guns again, nearly clipping the Buster Gundam's shoulder. Dearka sent the Buster reeling backwards, firing a shower of missiles into his enemy's face. The Buster Dagger pulled back, returning fire with its own missile launchers.

Up above, the Duel Gundam rocketed up into the air, beam saber drawn— with an angry scream, Yzak cut the thrusters and went hurtling down towards his Dagger L opponent. The Dagger reached for its own saber, but it was too late— Yzak's saber plunged into the Dagger's torso, and he kicked the sparking mobile suit aside as it began to explode.

"They're not invincible!" Yzak snarled. "They can still die!" The Duel skimmed along the ocean surface, firing a salvo of missiles up into the air. The targeted Dagger pulled back with a CIWS burst. Yzak screamed again, charging, and the Dagger swung forward towards the Duel with its shield. The Duel kicked the Dagger's shield aside and sliced off its left arm with a beam saber slice. Another kick sent the wounded Dagger spiraling back down into the ocean.

"Are they this good or are our machines just that bad?!" Dearka grunted, dodging another blast from the Buster Dagger and firing back with his own beam cannon. "Yzak! Help me take this guy down!"

Down below, Yzak wheeled around to face the Buster Dagger that Dearka was fighting, and cursed under his breath.

——————————————————————————————————————————

"This one is different," Athrun snarled, as the Justice pitched backwards, dodging a handful of wild beam saber swipes. The Diablo Gundam followed with a roar from its engines; inside, Jack's eyes flashed furiously.

"Hold still!" he screamed, rocketing into the air and brandishing his beam saber over his head. He brought his saber down onto the Justice's shield with a crash. "Goddammit! Die already!"

Athrun ducked underneath another wild beam saber slash and rocketed up into the air, detaching his subflight lifter. The Justice itself came down onto the Diablo with a crash, landing on the Diablo's shoulders and vaulting back up into the air. Jack growled angrily as the Diablo shuddered under the blow— his eyes widened in disbelief as, a moment later, the Justice's subflight lifter slammed into the Diablo's stomach, forcing it back, and rocketed over his head before he could shoot it down. It slammed back onto the falling Justice's back, and Athrun wheeled around, beam saber in hand, for another pass.

Jack snarled in rage as he turned to face the Justice. "That's it," he snarled, as the Justice streaked towards him, "you're going down!"

The Diablo fired its boosters and charged.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_**

"Major," Doctor Peterson's tinny voice spoke through Alison's headset, "requesting permission to activate the Psyco System."

Alison glared sharply at her headset. "No," she said, "we're not going to activate it unless we have to!"

"We're going to have to!" Peterson shot back. "Our entire job is to activate it and see how Jack performs in actual combat under the effects of— "

"It'll kill him!" Alison snapped, as all eyes on the bridge turned to her in surprise. "You remember what happened last time! He almost had a heart attack!"

"Major," Lee interrupted; she turned towards him, surprised. "Calm down. We're in the middle of a battle here."

"Yes sir," she said quietly, glowering back at her headset. "Peterson, you activate that system on my mark and my mark only, you understand?"

There was a sickening crash outside; Alison looked up at the Diablo, and found it reeling from a head-on blow from the Justice's subflight lifter. The Diablo charged back after the Justice.

"I'm activating it," Peterson said sharply.

"Wait— " Alison began.

Up above, inside the Diablo, Jack's eyes widened as a familiar feeling surged through him. The Diablo's cooling vents sprung open and its eyes flashed red— Jack felt his entire body seize up with unbearable tension, and his mind slipped away, his eyes darkening and reddening as something seized him in its grasp and refused to let him go.

Back on the bridge of the _Mephistopheles_, Alison stared in disbelief at the Diablo.

"The Psyco System has been activated," Peterson reported. "Output is at 35 percent, status is nominal." There was a pause. "Let's show these guys what Jack can do."

——————————————————————————————————————————

The Diablo stormed forward towards the Justice. In the cockpit, Athrun blinked in surprise— it had opened up a series of vents on its arms, shoulders, and legs, and its eyes had gone from green to red.

"What is this thing doing?!" he exclaimed, as the Diablo rocketed up into his face, slamming its saber against his. "Sai, what the hell is going on?!"

"It's got some kind of radio link to the ship that I've never seen before!" Sai answered, as the Justice pitched backwards, barely dodging a flurry of furious beam saber swipes. "I don't know what's going on!"

The Diablo roared up over the Justice's head, showering it with beam shots; Athrun grunted and took cover behind his shield, backing away as the Diablo charged again. With a scream, Jack sent his machine sailing down into the Justice's face, and with a thundering crash, slammed down onto the Justice's shield and snapped it in two.

"Dammit!" Athrun grunted, taking off low over the water and dodging a blaze of beam cannon shots. "Who _is_ this guy?!"

The Diablo followed with a roar of engines. Inside, Jack stared at the cockpit screens with wide eyes. The voice was there again— it told him to attack. He felt himself move the Diablo's controls, but he was not trying to. The Diablo vaulted up into the air, slammed down and kicked the Justice's saber aside with a crash, and with a shriek of torn metal, sliced off the Justice's left arm at the elbow.

"Shit!" Athrun snarled, firing the boosters and rocketing up above the Diablo as his machine's maimed left arm threw sparks. "These reflexes…he's no normal Natural!"

The Diablo rocketed back up into his face. Jack shrieked as the Diablo stormed in for the kill; Athrun narrowed his eyes, seeing his chance—

A blood-curdling shriek split the air as the Justice slashed off the Diablo's right arm at the shoulder, and sent the Diablo staggering back towards the ocean's surface with a devastating kick to the stomach.

Jack glared up at the Justice as it swept in for the finishing blow. He took off, backing up along the water.

"Jack!" Peterson's voice barked. "Return at once! You've sustained too much damage!"

"I can still fight!" Jack snapped. "I'll take him down!"

"No you won't!" Peterson shot back. "You'll make another _mistake!_"

Jack's eyes widened in horror, and the Diablo came to a halt. Athrun blinked in surprise as the Diablo floated before him, lifeless.

"_Alfred!_" Alison's voice snapped. "What the _hell_ are you doing?! You're not authorized to use the block word unless— "

"His productivity is down," Peterson answered. "I'm recalling him."

"_I CAN'T MAKE A MISTAKE!_" Jack shrieked. "_I HAVE TO BE PERFECT! __**PERFECT!**_"

The Diablo took off, arcing around the Justice and roaring back towards the _Mephistopheles_. Athrun watched it go in disbelief.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_**

The Diablo Gundam staggered into the hangar with a crash, as the Daggers slowly filed in behind it. The cockpit hatch opened as the Diablo sank to its knees— a team of white-coated scientists rushed towards the cockpit, pulling the pilot out. Jack shrieked and thrashed as they dragged him to his feet, tearing off his helmet and pulling open his flight suit, wielding syringes. The screams rang out, but a moment later, they went silent.

"Is that him?" one of the mechanics asked, glancing at his partner. The second mechanic nodded.

"That's him. The Caucasus Wolf."

The first mechanic blinked. "The Caucasus Wolf?"

"Yeah," said the second, "you haven't heard of him? Shot down sixty mobile suits during the Black Sea War."

The first mechanic looked down at the twitching body as the researchers and a handful of guards dragged the silent boy away. "_That_ is the Caucasus Wolf?"

"He's one of those 'Extended,'" the second explained. "Whatever the hell they are."

On the bridge, Lee watched with veiled interest as Alison hurled her headset to the floor in fury, storming out of the room.

"Shelia," he ordered of the mobile suit deck supervisor, "recall the mobile suits. We'll have to try a different plan of attack here."

The _Mephistopheles_' mobile suits arced around back towards the ship, and Lee sat back, watching impatiently.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_**

"Move, move, we've got damaged units coming in!"

The hangar was alive with action as Murdoch shouted orders to the mechanics, and the Justice Gundam came down with a crash, stumbling forward and barely catching itself against the hangar wall.

In the cockpit, Athrun Zala gasped for breath, pulling his helmet off.

"Am I that out of practice…?" he grunted. "That pilot…he put up such a fight…"

"Athrun, move aside!" Murdoch's voice shouted, tinny and garbled through the Justice's speakers. "The Duel's coming in hot behind you!"

The Justice stepped aside, and the Duel Gundam came shrieking into the hangar, slamming its feet down onto the hangar floor and stumbling forward.

"They were so powerful," Athrun grunted, easing the Justice into its usual brace and popping the cockpit hatch open. "Are we getting too old…?"

——————————————————————————————————————————

Murrue sat back with a suppressed sigh of relief as she watched the dark hull of the _Mephistopheles_ turn away, its mobile suits climbing back into the ship's hangar.

"Those aren't average Alliance units," she said. "Neumann, once the mobile suits have returned, set a new course north. We'll have to lose them before we can do anything else."

The bridge doors opened, and Cagalli swept onto the bridge angrily, clad in her flight suit and holding her helmet under her arm, watching anxiously as the _Mephistopheles_ pulled away. "Are they retreating?"

"Probably," Murrue said, glancing at her. "Athrun managed to damage that new model, and they pulled back with it."

"Why would they attack us, though?" Cagalli demanded. "We have no quarrel with the Atlantic Federation!"

"_You_ don't, ma'am," Neumann put in from the helm, "but _we_ do. We were Atlantic Federation soldiers before we joined the Three Ships Alliance. They're probably coming after us for desertion and treason."

"I don't think they'd expend such good troops on us just for that, though," Murrue added. "They must have some reason of wanting to destroy us."

"The Seirans!" Cagalli exclaimed. "Their ties to the Atlantic Federation!"

"That doesn't explain why the Atlantic Federation would care, though," Murrue pointed out. "They crushed Orb easily once before, they could do it again. And mass drivers aren't nearly as important now as they were in the Valentine War." She sat back, crossing her arms. "But I don't think we've seen the last of them."

"The mobile suits have returned, captain," Miriallia put in from her console.

"Set the course and get us out of here, Neumann," Murrue ordered.

The _Megami_'s engines came to life with a roar.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_**

The world was a dim blur when Jack O'Hara awoke, staring hazily at the ceiling. He found himself in his bulbous maintenance pod, shrouded in a cool mist, his ears filled by a harp's gentle tune, and his nostrils filled by mellow floral scents. He sat up slowly, rubbing sleep from his eyes, and the canopy slowly opened.

"You're awake," someone said. Jack looked up, and smiled groggily at Alison as she helped him out of the pod.

"He…he used it on me," Jack said quietly.

"I know," Alison said. "He shouldn't have. I'm sorry." She helped him to his feet. "Next time you'll have to be more careful. That machine is a powerful opponent."

"But I was gonna beat him," protested Jack, "and then— "

"None of that now," Alison said, putting a finger over his lips. "It was all in the past. You'll just have to do better next time."

"Okay," Jack agreed, grinning brightly.

"Now, get dressed," Alison added, pulling away and smiling gently at him. "You've got another session today."

Jack nodded enthusiastically, and Alison turned to leave. "Hey, Allie?" he spoke up; she turned towards him. "Um…I don't want him to use it again…"

"I'll talk to Doctor Peterson," she said. "Leave it to me."

She slipped through the door, and Jack turned and rushed towards his locker.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_**

"What a mess," Dearka grunted, watching from the gantry as the Buster's shoulder missile launchers were reloaded and leaning on the railing tiredly. "A year ago today these things used to at least be able to stand their ground…now we're getting outclassed."

He glanced over at Yzak, standing with arms crossed next to him, glowering at the Duel as its railgun was reloaded. "Next time I won't be beaten so easily."

Dearka arched an eyebrow at him. "Hey now, none of that," he said, straightening up. "We _all_ got our asses kicked, it wasn't just you." He paused. "Besides," he added, gesturing over his shoulder at the Justice, "ol' Golden Boy Zala came out worse off than you."

Yzak glanced at the Justice, as Murdoch and a handful of mechanics steadily worked on replacing the Justice's severed left arm. "It doesn't matter," he said, scowling back at his own machine. "Next time we have to put up a better fight. That's all there is to it."

"Well, we did well enough today, considering that we were up against some strong opponents," Dearka ventured, returning his gaze to the Buster. "And in outdated machines, too. We managed to force them to retreat."

"That won't be good enough next time," Yzak grumbled. "Next time we'll have to do better."

Dearka glanced at Yzak for a moment; he stared down angrily at the Duel, festering in the mud of his perceived defeat. Dearka heaved a sigh, looking again at the Buster. Yzak would always be like this, he supposed— ever since that day on Aprilius 1.

"I guess I never did apologize," he said. Yzak glanced at him inquiringly. "About your mother, I mean."

Yzak flinched and stalwartly returned his attention to the Duel. "It's not like it's your fault."

"That's not gonna stop me from having sympathy for you," Dearka responded. "I mean, your mother died. Of course I'm going to feel sorry for you."

"I don't need anyone to feel sorry for me," Yzak shot back.

"Oh yes you do," said Dearka, arching an eyebrow at Yzak. "If nobody cares about you while you _are_ here, then you wind up like Nicol." He looked back at the Buster, as Yzak glanced at him in surprise. "People scream and cry and hit things after the smoke clears, because they didn't realize that they cared until you were gone. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to make that mistake again."

Yzak looked back at the Duel resolutely. "You've been hanging around Milly too much."

Dearka smirked back. "It's good for you," he said. "You should try it."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Scapa Flow Naval Base, Orkney Islands, Scotland, Atlantic Federation**

The bitter cold was no matter to Lord Djibril, wrapped in a long black coat, his gloved hands resting comfortably in his pockets, as he stood on a balcony overlooking the sprawling naval base of Scapa Flow. It had once served as a dockyard for the Royal British Navy, and the German fleet had been scuttled here at the end of World War I in AD 1919. It was only fitting that a world so steeped with armaments would once again open the sarcophagus here and rebuild this base.

Djibril glanced down at the dock in front of him. An Alliance _Spengler_-class aircraft carrier, the _John Paul Jones_, was taking on supplies. A column of Dagger Ls stood patiently on its deck, as workers and sailors scurried around down below. Djibril looked along the side of the _John Paul Jones_'s hull— three mobile suits were being loaded into the hangar, two of them with the faces of Gundams, and the third with heavy weapons.

"Lord Djibril," a voice spoke. Djibril turned, finding a figure standing off in the shadows. "They've arrived."

"So I see," Djibril said, turning back towards the _John Paul Jones_. "The _Mephistopheles_ has already engaged the Orb Raiders once, and accomplished nothing. The Atlantic Federation Special Forces are sending the Barbosa Unit to supervise."

"Why would the Special Forces care?" the figure in the shadows asked.

"Because the _Mephistopheles_ was deployed with the -X117 Diablo," Djibril answered testily. "Jack O'Hara is a Class II Extended. He's valuable."

"I see," the figure answered. "And so _they_ are being sent because…?"

"I want someone from the Phantom Pain to be on hand," Djibril said. A wicked smile flashed onto his face. "And I think they'll do nicely."

The figure chuckled to himself. From his side, another figure emerged— a silver-haired young man with dull gray eyes, swathed in a heavy coat and a blue Earth Alliance uniform. "They will indeed," the darkened figure said, glancing at the young man. "Won't you, Sven?"

Sven Cal Bayan straightened up.

"Yes sir," he answered.

——————————————————————————————————————————

To be continued…


	3. Phase 03: Mistakes

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

——————————————————————————————————————————

Phase 03 - Mistakes

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 19th, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Pacific Ocean**

The screen flashed as a Jet Dagger L darted across it, spiraling through waves of machinegun fire and missiles, a swarm of ZAFT's flying DINN mobile suits around it, firing relentlessly. The Dagger L soared through their ranks, releasing a cloud of its own missiles and knocking two DINNs out of the sky. The Dagger L whirled around, machinegun rounds barely missing, and shot another DINN down with its beam carbine.

Standing in the side room of the _Mephistopheles_' simulator chamber with Alison and Peterson, Ian Lee nodded approvingly. Jack O'Hara was an Extended, inherently unreliable…but when an Extended went out in a mobile suit, it was still a remarkable sight.

"His reaction time is down to point-four," Peterson observed. "And his efficiency is up by three percent."

"Now that he knows what being beaten is like," Alison pointed out, "his capacity will increase. He knows what to expect."

Another DINN exploded on the screen— the Dagger L ripped forward, CIWS guns blazing and cutting down more missiles.

"Real combat is entirely different from simulators," Lee said dubiously, arms crossed over his chest. "And the Orb Raiders' pilots are no slouches either. They're all veterans of the Valentine War."

"Their machines are old," Peterson said with a shrug, "and they can only compensate for that so much. With more training and discipline, Jack can be precise enough to finish them off. Even Athrun Zala." He glanced back at Lee. "Besides, Captain, Jack here is the Caucasus Wolf. He shot down sixty mobile suits during the Black Sea War, did he not?"

"Sixty aged mobile suits piloted by ill-trained kids are not the same as five advanced prototypes piloted by hardened, skilled veterans," Lee answered. "Especially the Justice. Athrun Zala is no novice."

"Jack can handle him next time," Alison said, casting a dark glance towards Peterson. "What we have to do is train him and give him the tools he needs to do so," she narrowed her eyes at the doctor, "and then get out of his way."

On the screen, another DINN went down in flames.

Peterson stared ruefully at the boy in the simulator. "We'll make sure he's up to the challenge."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Onogoro Island, United Emirates of Orb**

The dry-dock was alive with the sounds of work as an army of mechanics and technicians swarmed over the half-complete hull of a warship. From the secluded vantage point of a high balcony, Jona Roma Seiran watched it all with a thin smile, arms crossed over his chest. Down below was the incomplete husk that would, in time, become the finest warship to fly the Orb flag.

He glanced at the officer over his shoulder. "Captain Todaka," he began, "when is the _Takemikazuchi_ scheduled for completion?"

The ramrod-straight Todaka consulted his clipboard. "We're hoping to get it done by late July or early August," came his answer, "but unforeseen supply delays and problems make it impossible for us to give a fixed date."

Jona looked back at the ship, satisfied. "That will do," he said. "By the end of the summer, I want to have this ship deployed," he paused to smile wryly, "and looking for our lost princess."

He almost smiled, imagining that he could feel Todaka's discomfort. Todaka was loyal to the wayward Cagalli Yula Athha, just as he was loyal to her father. However, he was also loyal to Orb, and was willing to serve Orb's new masters, even if he did not approve of the direction in which these new masters were taking the country. But that was alright. Todaka was a competent officer, whose loyalty could be counted on— to a point.

Besides, Jona reminded himself, it was for the best that Cagalli not be in power. She was passionate, but she understood nothing of politics. She saw justice in Uzumi's standing up to the Atlantic Federation, regardless of the grim toll the Atlantic Federation had exacted for Orb's intransigence. That was a fate Orb should not have to suffer again. Jona thought back venomously to the Atlantic Federation's short-lived occupation. His father had welcomed them with open arms, a veritable Vidkun Quisling, bowing to the whims of invaders.

But Jona Roma Seiran would not have Orb bend its knee again. Unato was an obstacle, to be sure, but if everything went Jona's way, Unato would not even have to be killed. The Sahakus would be another matter— Rondo Mina was a crafty one indeed— but she seemed content to watch events from Ame-no-Mihashira, and so long as the Seirans controlled the budget process, Ame-no-Mihashira could never be completed.

"Captain," Jona said, glancing at Todaka again, "I have a special assignment for you."

Todaka looked up in both surprise and dread. "Sir?"

Jona turned around to face the sunken man. "We detected a strange ship coming down from space in the Pacific," he explained. "The Atlantic Federation already attacked them near the Caroline Islands, but the battle was inconclusive. And we don't want some little skirmish on our borders without us knowing exactly what's going on out there."

"I understand, sir," Todaka said reluctantly. Jona smiled— all the rumors had said that the Justice Gundam had been with this new ship, and where Athrun Zala was, Cagalli Yula Athha was probably nearby.

"I trust you'll act appropriately in defense of our country's territorial integrity," Jona said with a thin smile.

Todaka saluted.

"Of course, sir."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Pacific Ocean**

Athrun Zala sat up with a sigh on the hatch of the Justice Gundam, looking around as he paused in his work. The Justice's OS calibration was almost finished anyways, and that cockpit was stifling.

Across the hangar stood the inert Aegis Gundam. Memories trickled back, as they did every time Athrun laid eyes on his old machine. Now Andy was piloting it, lending to it a distinctive new crimson and black Phase Shift color scheme that Athrun liked better than Aegis's old pink—or _coral_, as he had unsuccessfully tried to insist to his teammates in the Le Creuset team. Not even Nicol had bought _that_ one.

Glancing over to the Aegis's left, Athrun decided that _that_ was the good thing about Yzak's Duel. It might have been a lackluster machine, but at least it wasn't pink.

The smile left Athrun's face as other memories associated with the Aegis came back. He saw Kira again, inside the Strike, in the Marshall Islands. Their friends lay dead, and they were at each other's throats. The screams still rang in his ears—he had not even realized it as he had transformed the Aegis and clamped it onto the Strike. It was all a blur; his anger had consumed him, Kira's anger had consumed _him_, and in the end all it amounted to was two dead friends, two trashed mobile suits, Dearka and the Buster being captured, and Kira and Athrun both being injured. Revenge had gotten neither of them anywhere.

Unless one counted their new mobile suits, but Athrun certainly was not. The Justice was a nice machine, but no mobile suit was worth self-destructing a friendship for.

Athrun's thoughts were interrupted as Mwu La Fllaga sauntered up by the Justice's cockpit.

"Any particular reason why you're staring at Andy's mobile suit?" he asked, taking a healthy swig of whatever was in that bottle he had—Athrun had a sneaking suspicion that Mwu had made a policy of keeping himself sloshed around Yzak.

"It's just got a lot of memories," Athrun said quietly, looking away. "It's nothing. I'm fine."

"You could have your head torn off and you'd say you're fine, kid," Mwu chuckled. He glanced at the Aegis himself. "You still thinking of the war?"

Athrun didn't answer, and Mwu took that as a yes.

"So," Mwu went on, looking around the hangar for himself, "you hear anything new about that Alliance ship?" Athrun shook his head, staring mutely at the Justice's deactive armor. Mwu glanced back at Athrun and immediately felt irritated as he said nothing. "Okay, what's your problem?"

Athrun blinked in surprise as Mwu spun around to face him, moving directly into his line of sight.

"All you've done is sit here and angst," Mwu went on, glaring. "Is this about Kira?" The mention of Kira struck a painful chord, and for a moment Athrun saw again the Freedom charging towards him, Kira shrieking in rage as Athrun tried to figure out what he had done to make Kira so angry. Mwu scowled and grabbed Athrun by the shoulders, shaking him harshly. "Snap out of it! I miss Kira too; he was a good kid, but he's gone now! Get over it!"

Athrun closed his eyes. "I know," he said quietly. "But the Aegis was my mobile suit...and I fought Kira in it." He looked back up at Mwu. "We were best friends, but we fought like animals and we almost killed each other. And in Orb, I thought we'd gotten past that...but I guess we didn't."

Mwu's scowl faded away. "Yeah," he mumbled. "Even so, though, Kira's gone now. What we have to do is focus on retaking Orb, so we can have a place where you kids don't have to be on the battlefield and wind up like Kira." He let go of Athrun. "At the very least, lighten up a bit. The last thing we need is you being anymore depressing than Yzak."

Athrun smiled in spite of himself. "He's not so bad once you get to know him."

Mwu snorted dismissively. "Well, I'm not gonna wait that long," he shot back. He got up and headed back down the gantry.

Athrun heaved a sigh and looked back down into the cockpit of the Justice.

_A place where we don't have to be on the battlefield..._

He ducked inside and returned to work.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Research, Lacus Clyne had found, was a difficult task to carry out alone, particularly when the field of data to be culled into something useful was about a million articles strong. But she was a Coordinator— taking on punishing workloads was supposed to be well within her "genetic operational parameters," as the scientists had put it. Her fatigue, she surmised, was purely psychological.

The search engines were starting to strain under the weight of her demands, so she sat back to stretch her coiling muscles and return some semblance of life to the rest of her body. Her hours of research had availed her a clear picture of some invisible hand in the PLANTs that swept Gilbert Dullindal to power. But her reason for this conclusion was only intuitive, uncorroborated by actual evidence. Blue Cosmos had claimed responsibility; the man who was named as the assassin was a known Blue Cosmos associate; there was nothing to indicate that Dullindal had bought any of the votes that swept him into office. It all looked so clean.

_Of course it all looks clean,_ she reminded herself. _Rau Le Creuset would expect nothing less._

Lacus shook her head. Of course Rau Le Creuset had a hand in this. He had a hand in everything, because, it seemed, he _knew_ everything. And anyone who came too close to figuring out just how much he really knew would never be in a position to reveal it.

She thought back bitterly to Kira Yamato, sobbing in her arms after a misadventure on the Mendel colony. His pain was no stranger to her— where Kira had had his conception of life torn down by Rau Le Creuset and his cackling history, she had had hers torn down by Patrick Zala and his ruthless gunmen. But her father could not have died for a political struggle— she had been determined to make his death mean more. Too many people had died just so that one man could have power over another, or to decide which men would have power over which. But her father would not be one of them. And to that end, she became the political outlaw and the rebel leader she never thought she would be, taking on the tactics of people she had only known in history books. And when she had finally met up with Kira Yamato once again, only then did she feel safe enough to cry.

Now, as Lacus surveyed the world that Kira's sacrifice had brought about, she wanted to cry again.

But this time she did not feel safe.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Pacific Ocean**

The simulator rocked as the boy inside feverishly did battle with imaginary enemies.

"Take it easy, Jack," Alison warned him from by the simulator seat's side. "Don't get too worked up."

Jack calmed down a little, but the simulator still shook. Alison sighed, shaking her head and smiling. She glanced over at the side monitors, checking over his vitals. He was eager to take on the great Justice Gundam again.

The simulator's preprogrammed mission ended with another resounding victory for the energetic Extended, and he leapt out of the chair eagerly, looking to Alison.

"Done in five minutes and thirty-two seconds," she said. "You shaved off three seconds from the last time."

The light in Jack's eyes vanished as Peterson strode in, clipboard in hand. Alison stopped herself from taking a step to put herself between Jack and Peterson— he was still a colleague, who still had to be treated with respect, even if treating Jack with respect remained a foreign concept.

"Major," the doctor said with a perfunctory salute. "His simulator assignment is finished already?"

"In five-thirty-two," she answered with just as perfunctory a salute of her own. Peterson consulted his clipboard.

"In that case," he said, "we'll have to prepare the Psyco System's test module."

Jack went white with horror— Alison narrowed her eyes. "Why?" she asked. "We haven't run any of the medical tests."

"Colonel Rico Barbosa of the Special Forces is coming here," Peterson said, casting a hawkish glance towards Jack. "He's very interested in the Psyco System, and would like to see a demonstration."

"We can't do that," Alison snapped. "You know what effect it has on him. It's too dangerous to run tests on it whenever some officer wants."

"Then why are we bothering testing it?" Peterson shot back. "This _is_ an order, Major, and we can't very well ignore it. Colonel Barbosa will be expecting us to show him the extent of Jack's performance under the system." He looked at Jack again. "And he can't disappoint."

Jack took a horrified, wordless step back, his eyes wide with fear.

"Y-You're not gonna let them do it, are you?" he asked quietly, looking at Alison.

She glared back at Peterson.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Technically, the bridge crew wasn't supposed to be chattering at all, ever, so long as they were operating on the bridge. But Ian Lee was not a man for protocol— demanding his men to not act like men always led to lots of repressed feelings, which would inevitably come out with some sort of scandalous crime, followed by an ugly and dramatic court-martial and an accompanying media storm about whether or not active-duty personnel in the Atlantic Federation armed forces should actually be allowed to have sex during deployments— and _that_ meant giving a few very awkward interviews.

He shook his head at the disturbing memories. The old policy of "don't ask, don't tell" really would have come in handy back then. He had not asked, and he _certainly_ did not want to be told.

Besides, Lee reasoned, the crew under his command was disciplined and professional enough to know where the line was and what would happen if they crossed it. And that was about all Lee asked of them. Other officers demanded loyalty to the tenets of Blue Cosmos, or immaculate physical appearance, but so long as Lee's men followed the rules and did their jobs, he really didn't care if they liked to listen to Lacus Clyne in their bunks.

Sitting back in the captain's chair with a steaming mug of coffee in hand, he idly listened to the quiet chatter of the bridge crew. They were nervous, he surmised, about going into action again. After all, this same crew, under the hawkish gaze of Vice Admiral Bartholomew Stone, had nearly been killed in February of CE 72 by an Earth Alliance science project gone wrong. Now they had another one of those science projects aboard, and they were justifiably antsy.

The towering Lieutenant Murphy emerged from the darkened CIC. Lee glanced over his shoulder, returning the XO's salute.

"Captain, message from headquarters," he said, handing over a piece of paper. Lee took it and glanced over it, but he immediately blinked in surprise and read it more closely.

"They're sending a Special Forces unit here?" he asked, looking up at Murphy. "The _Barbosa_ unit?"

"They said it was because of the Extended," Murphy answered, shrugging his titanic shoulders. "'Maintaining operational integrity' or something."

"But we're still in pursuit," Lee muttered, looking back at the paper. "If we stop to pull into port, we might lose the trail."

Murphy adjusted his shirt's cuffs uneasily. "Actually sir, we're, uh, not supposed to pull into port."

Lee blinked. "We're not?" He looked back over the bridge, out the windows and towards the sea. "They're going to dock?"

"They didn't specify," said Murphy. "But we were told to prepare for their arrival, which should be in about a week. They're taking off from Heaven's Base right now."

Lee shook his head in irritation. "Don't we already have enough passengers?"

"The Barbosa unit is bringing mobile suits as well," Murphy added, "but I don't know if Colonel Barbosa will make it a point of superseding your authority, sir."

"Of course he will," snorted Lee, "that man's ego is bigger than a space colony." He shook his head again. "It's an order. Prepare for the Barbosa unit's arrival. Open up bunk space and hangar space, and inform me when their transport comes closer."

Murphy saluted dutifully and dove back into the CIC. Lee heaved a sigh and took a healthy swig of coffee. Nobody, it seemed, would ever get out of his way and let him just do his job.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 20th, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Pacific Ocean**

Miriallia wasn't sure where she had found the picture, or, anymore, who had found it. She suspected it had been Sai— he was the one she knew could rely on the most. They were partners on the bridge, both secure and driven by the knowledge that they were the eyes, ears, and voice of the _Megami_. And everyone with the eyes and ears to see and hear had seen and heard her pain during the war.

That, she supposed, was why whoever had given her the picture of herself and Tolle on the wall next to her bunk had done so.

War had certainly changed her, and not, she guessed, for the better. She was certainly more mature— watching one's boyfriend get blown up in battle by someone who, a few months later, would be a comrade tended to have that effect— but that maturity had come at the cost of lives. And what had it been for? She had asked Kira to be frank, some time after that fateful battle in the Marshall Islands. And frank he had been— he painted a picture of a heated battle with Athrun, and Tolle rushing in to help, as he always did. Athrun turned, acting, Kira suspected, more out of reflex than anything else, slamming the Aegis's shield into the Skygrasper's cockpit. After that, Kira said he remembered nothing— his own rage had clouded his memory, and the only thing he could remember was the burning need to kill his friend, and the thundering blast that ended it all.

And that in itself invoked another bitter image, of her friend Kira, suffering as always, but shelving the agony of fighting his best friend in order to protect the _Archangel_. And then he returned at Alaska to protect the _Archangel_ again, this time in his powerful new Freedom Gundam, and this time he had voluntarily accepted the burden of using that unstoppable machine to end the war. But Milly couldn't forget the more candid moments, where she could look into Kira's eyes and see the scars etched there. He had taken on a superhuman task, but in those moments where he'd merely pick at his food, or his feverish work on the Freedom would pause, or when Torii alighted on his shoulder, he was merely human after all.

And, like Tolle, he was gone too.

Whenever her thoughts drifted to Tolle, Milly mused bitterly, they would inevitably find their way to Athrun Zala, the one who had killed him. Immediately, her trained reflex kicked in— he didn't know Tolle, she reminded herself; he was angry and not thinking straight; he was doing his duty, just as she did her duty by serving on a battleship that killed hundreds of young ZAFT soldiers and undoubtedly left as many girls in the PLANTs as heartbroken as she was. It was what happened in war.

But even though that reflex kept her from lashing out at the somber blue-haired soldier, it never made her feel any better.

A sharp knock at her door interrupted her thoughts, and a moment later, Dearka burst in, looking anxious.

"Turn the TV on," he said brusquely, switching the monitor on as he did so. "We've got a problem."

The screen flashed to life with an image of the misery Unato Ema Seiran, standing amid a dazzling blaze of flashbulbs, behind a podium emblazoned with Orb's national symbol, with Orb's sprawling National Assembly arrayed before him. Unato raised a hand to silence the bulbs and voices.

"What's he doing?" Milly asked, glancing at Dearka. The dark-skinned man clenched his fists angrily.

"He's making our life harder," Dearka said.

"Earlier today," the gravelly but firm voice of the Seiran patriarch began, "we witnessed an audacious attack by the desperate holdouts of the Athha family's supporters on our naval facilities on Onogoro Island. One of our battleships, the _Akamaiou_, was stolen by the terrorists in the fighting, and over four hundred Orb soldiers were killed or wounded. We have now seen the lengths to which these Athha holdouts will go in preserving the late Representative Uzumi's policies against our own.

"This use of force against our legitimate rule is unacceptable, and will not be tolerated," Unato said. "The cult of personality that surrounds the late Representative is a threat to our nation, and those who would defy our democratic institution and challenge us through acts of violence rather than debate shall be treated as the criminals they are. Tonight I am announcing a new policy aimed at cracking down on these terrorists before they can strike again. We will give them no quarter, and Orb police and military will be given the tools they need in a legislative package to secure the peace for our country."

Milly glanced over at Dearka, as he glowered at the screen.

"We're going to Orb soon?" Milly asked.

Dearka nodded. "We'd better get to the bridge."

——————————————————————————————————————————

The speech had not been long, but it had been long enough to send Cagalli into a frightful brood. She sat and simmered on the bridge of the _Megami_, ignoring the pundits as they descended like vultures upon Unato's speech. The bridge crew was mostly assembled, and the pilots all had found somewhere to sit or stand as well, watching their leader uneasily.

"Well," Andy spoke up, leaning back and somehow still looking casual in a nearby chair, a steaming mug of coffee in hand, "we can't let that go unanswered."

Cagalli said nothing, grinding her teeth. How could Unato dare say that the Athha loyalists were destroying Orb, when the Seirans were steadily pushing the country towards destruction? She glanced at the bridge doors as Milly and Dearka arrived, Dearka looking annoyed and Milly trying to be unnoticed as she slid into her usual spot at the communications console.

"We have to go to Orb," Cagalli snapped. All eyes turned to her in surprise.

"If we do that," Athrun spoke up, "then he'll just hunt us down and kill us when we get there."

"Besides, we can't take the Seirans on alone," Mwu added, crossing his arms. "We don't have an army."

"We have to do something!" Cagalli exclaimed.

Milly blinked in surprise as her console beeped; all eyes turned towards her. "We're…getting a message," she said. "From Orb."

"From Orb?" Mwu asked, sitting up and frowning. "Who?"

The screen flickered to life, and Cagalli's eyes flashed furiously.

"Cagalli," the voice of Jona Roma Seiran said. "It's been a long time."

——————————————————————————————————————————

To be continued…


	4. Phase 04: Kingdom of Blood

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

——————————————————————————————————————————

Phase 04 - Kingdom of Blood

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 20th, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Pacific Ocean**

"You!"

Cagalli leapt up out her seat, pointing vindictively at the grinning politico.

"My my," Jona chuckled, "when you don't want to be found, you certainly don't want to be found." He draped one leg over the other, casual and smiling, leaning back. "Fortunately, I am not without a heart. Surely you must be _seething_ over my father's announcement, and I certainly wouldn't want to interrupt such a towering rage. But I do have a proposition." He paused dramatically, relishing the scowling faces on the bridge of the _Megami_. "You don't know how much political prestige you have in Orb, Cagalli. Even with this little disappearance of yours, if you should return, you'll be the closest thing Orb has to a messiah. Imagine what you could do with all that prestige. Imagine the laws you could pass, the changes you could enact, the new way forward you could take…if only you returned.

"Come back to Orb, Cagalli," he said. "There is much waiting here for you. For example, some time before his death, your father arranged for you a marriage." His grin widened a little as he noticed the color leave her face. "To me."

"What makes you think it will be honored?" Murrue snapped. "Cagalli will marry who she pleases. Lord Uzumi would not have had it any other way."

"Oh, _au contraire, le Capitaine!_" laughed Jona. "Lord Uzumi was as much an aristocrat as the rest of us. An exceedingly…idealistic one, perhaps, but he was not so unsullied as to not partake in our games of marrying our young off to one another for political purposes. I have it in writing. Come see for yourself, if you like." He flashed a Cheshire grin at the _Megami_'s bridge crew, and the simmering blonde at the center. "But let's be realistic, shall we?" The grin vanished. "If you should return to Orb as you are now— as the knight of Uzumi Nara Athha and his failed policies, as the leader of the terrorist Orb Raiders— you would be greeted as the bearer of Lord Uzumi's standard, upon which is written his legacy. And his legacy is the first military invasion our nation has ever endured since our nation's formation. Our census bureau reports that some 14,000 people were killed by the Atlantic Federation's invasion. Orb citizens, Cagalli. Civilians. Our economy has still not yet fully recovered from our tenure as the Atlantic Federation's protectorate. All because Lord Uzumi had to stand by his policy in the face of the Atlantic Federation's firepower. Do you think the people of Orb, who had to rebuild their homes and carry on without their children or parents or friends, see that policy as you do?"

"How dare you talk to me about that policy when _you're_ the ones who invited them in after the war?!" Cagalli shot back. "You invited Atlantic Federation businessmen, personally, to your own home! You met with them face to face! The ones who invaded our country and burned it down!"

"Come now, Cagalli," Jona chuckled, "our economy was in ruins. Foreign investment was the key to getting it working again. And they brought with them big money to get our people working and our cities bustling again. There is far more to governing than coming up with a policy and sticking to it regardless of what happens." The smile returned. "Imagine the alliance of the Seirans and the Athhas if you were to return and fulfill your father's promise. Imagine the solidarity with which an Athha-Seiran government could move forward. Imagine the steps we could take to truly repair our country and become the envy of the world again. You only need to come back and join me."

Cagalli glared over at Milly. "Cut the transmission," she growled.

"You'll regret that," Jona warned.

"Not as much as I'd regret bowing to you," spat the blonde girl. She glared at Milly again. "Cut the transmission."

The screen went dark, and Cagalli seethed.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Pacific Ocean**

"Admiral Tapang," Lee said in a measured voice, trying to stay respectful, "I understand your concern, but we can handle this ship ourselves. It won't be necessary to send ships to assist us."

"I am dispatching my fleet anyway," the lined admiral in the pristine white uniform said. "We will not allow any compromise of the territorial integrity of the Equatorial Union. The fleet will depart from Singapore in three days. That is all." The screen went dark.

"Thank you, sir," Lee muttered, glaring back.

Murphy emerged from the CIC, glancing over at the screen himself, and then back at Lee. "Sir," he began, "isn't this a good thing? They're reinforcements, after all."

"If these were reinforcements from the Atlantic Federation, all under my command or willing to cooperate, then yes, it would be," Lee explained, sitting up in agitation. "But these guys won't be under my command, and they'll be from the Equatorial Union. That means a big mess of procedures and protocols, and a political storm, and a diplomatic mess, and all of that paperwork that I don't need to be dealing with." He shook his head. "They stuck us with this Extended, then they send a Special Forces unit, now they're sending foreign troops too. Do they want us to do our job or not?"

"Well, hopefully the commander will be more reasonable than the politicians," Murphy said with a thin smile.

"Hopefully," Lee agreed, sighing heavily. "Inform High Command that the Equatorial Union has contacted us. I doubt they'll be happy."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Pacific Ocean**

Yzak Jule had watched mechanics repair his trusty Duel Gundam so many times that he could do it himself by now. And he was thus doing exactly that, sitting back in the cockpit with a cup of coffee— Andy refused to allow the crew to drink subpar coffee, though the only thing Yzak really cared about was whether or not it would keep him awake— running diagnostics on the Duel's operating system. Usually, he recalled, the mechanics had swarmed over his machine to repair damage incurred by that scourge of the Le Creuset Team and the Zala Team, the unstoppable Strike.

He glanced at his dimmed reflection in the cockpit screen, focusing on the scar still torn into his face. As Andy had said, he had sworn something to that scar…but what did it mean now? Revenge on the Strike? It was Athrun who took revenge— for Yzak's scar, for Nicol's death. And by the end of the war, he had problems all his own— why worry about the Strike when his own friend, Dearka, was suddenly in the other side's trench?

And now, he mused, he was here, in the other side's trench.

He thought back to his old foe, the Strike, the emotionless machine that fought like a Coordinator and held off four ZAFT Reds. But now he was surrounded by people who knew its pilot— a Coordinator, just like him, but on the side of the Earth Alliance, the enemy of the Coordinators. Why was he fighting? To protect his friends, they said. Wasn't he aware that he was fighting against his own kind, and for an army that, it seemed, was hell-bent on wiping out his own kind? He was aware, they said. What was he loyal to, to make him so noble?

Well, Yzak reminded himself, loyalty was only as noble as what one was loyal to. The image of his mother's body in the Duel's hand, bleeding and broken by vicious assault rifle rounds, was an abject lesson in _that_.

But that was what he wanted to put an end to, right? That was what Cagalli was trying to retake Orb and topple the Seirans for— to build a little niche in the world where you wouldn't have to watch your mother die in the hand of a mobile suit. Wasn't that worth fighting for, worth dying for?

Then again, what was the point of fighting for a better world if you won't live to see it? You'd lay your life down for the sake of others, but you'd never know if what you fought for really was worth it.

He remembered his mother again, and not much else after that. They had told him that he'd gone on the warpath, putting ZAFT to shame and tearing apart their mobile suits, his rampage ending only when Dearka and Athrun arrived to literally drag him out of the fight— to, as they put it, "get you out of here before you get yourself killed."

He looked back at the scar. He could get it removed, he supposed…but it always reminded him of the war. It reminded him of the battle where he'd received it— the burning pain searing across his face, the blood, the agony, the horror and anger that washed through him when he saw his new face. It reminded him of the shuttle— only later had he learned that it was full of refugees, not soldiers. It reminded him of Nicol— the pain of the realization that for all his insults and pretenses, Nicol's death could still reduce him to a screaming wreck. It reminded him of his private war with Dearka— pointing a gun at his best friend, not understanding why he said what he said, not understanding why they were enemies, but deep down, thinking that maybe he was right. And most of all, it reminded him of the pain.

That was the world Cagalli wanted to build. A world where you didn't have to feel that kind of pain.

So he decided that he would keep the scar.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The _Megami_'s open-air deck was a good place to ruminate, Athrun decided, staring out over the great vista of the Pacific Ocean. The great black ship sailed lazily over the waves. Somewhere out there, the Alliance was following, but they had not attacked for several days. That, of course, was troubling— if they weren't attacking again, then they must be planning something. And with such formidable pilots in their roster, that something was undoubtedly going to be deadly.

But with no clues to go off of, the most Athrun Zala could do was wait and hope that next time would go better. Practice in a mobile suit battle only got one so far— every battle was different, and getting locked into one routine would spell doom against a foe quick enough on the draw to discern the pattern.

He thought back instead to the overarching threat of Jona Roma Seiran. The grinning politician's ultimatum still rang in his ears, and he immediately felt an odd twinge of jealousy, finding himself competing with a scheming prince over Cagalli.

He rushed to quash those feelings. They were unseemly for a man of his breeding, he reminded himself; this was not grade school, where he could afford to get into glaring contests with other boys over the pretty girl in the middle. Now he was in the real world, and there were things that mattered far more than his emotions. He was there to protect Cagalli and help her however he could in achieving her goal, of a rebuilt Orb once again centered around Uzumi's neutrality policies. Her affections were not what he was fighting for. She was not an object.

As always, the doubting, mocking voice piped up. But wasn't treating her like an immaculate goddess that will bring peace and prosperity for all the same thing as treating her like an object?

Athrun shook his head. There was always doubt— he could never be sure. He had fought Kira while filled with doubt; he had gone back to the PLANTs to find his fiancée an enemy of the state, and that filled him with doubt; he had finally decided that he couldn't fight for the medals his father gave him, but even then, he had to go back to his father to make sure that he was truly on the right path, and that filled him with doubt; he destroyed GENESIS, but Kira turned against him, and filled him with doubt; now he was on Earth, protecting Cagalli and fighting to create the world she wanted, but he was filled with doubt.

A man of his breeding could not allow doubt to overtake him, he reminded himself. Not with his responsibilities— he had confidence in the abilities of his comrades, but also knew that he was forever Cagalli's last line of defense.

Absently, as always was the case, he wondered if he could ever have a normal relationship with the tempestuous princess. He was acutely aware that they were both only eighteen years old. He was acutely aware that the burdens they had taken on would be difficult for adults as old as Commander Bartfeldt would. It was what he had overheard Andy say was the saddest legacy of the Valentine War— "kids trying to be gods." And he was acutely aware that most eighteen year olds like himself didn't have to set aside their relationship to foment a revolution or shake an Atlantic Federation battleship in pursuit.

And he was acutely aware that most eighteen-year-old boys didn't have to work for every touch their girlfriends allowed them.

He shook his head again. He was not most eighteen-year-old boys. He was a soldier, a man of high breeding, a bodyguard, Cagalli's emotional anchor. And as long as the world had greater needs, his own would have to wait.

He leaned forward against the railing, wondering how long that would be.

——————————————————————————————————————————  
**Onogoro Island, United Emirates of Orb**

The man fell to his knees, his face bloody, at the feet of two flak-jacketed, assault rifle-toting Orb soldiers. Broken and bleeding, the prisoner looked up at his captors, and came face to face with the grinning Jona Roma Seiran.

"Lieutenant Kamakura," he said, tapping his foot in front of the prisoner's ruined face. "Are you aware of the particulars of the statute concerning treason?"

The prisoner said nothing.

"'Should the defendant be proven to have aided and abetted an enemy of the United Emirates of Orb,'" Jona quoted, "'the required penalty is death.'"

Again, the prisoner was silent.

"You see, the law ties my hands," Jona continued, "so I can't actually commute your sentence or anything. So sorry. But we might be able to make this easier if you cooperate." He leaned down, smiling still. "Now, we've already established that the ones who launch attacks on Orb in the name of the Athha family are terrorists. That's a fair assessment, is it not? And like any legitimate government, we must protect our people, should we not?"

The prisoner's face twisted into a glare.

"So, you see, we can't allow these terrorists to continue this war against Orb. It's not safe. Why, just imagine if one of their car bombs found its way into a restaurant instead of a munitions depot. Think of all those dead civilians. We wouldn't want that, would we?" He straightened up. "Now then, Lieutenant, let's make this simple. Tell us what you know about these terrorists— we know you know much. And we'd like to know too. And if you cooperate, you won't be _executed_. Oh no, no embarrassing record in your family's history, nothing like that. You'd simply have a tragic accident. And you'd be buried with military honors, in the National Cemetery. Nobody would have to know what a traitor you were to your country and your people. It's the most I can do for you, you see. Do we have a deal?"

The prisoner only glared back.

Jona shrugged. "If you insist," he said. He glanced up at the soldiers. They nodded; Jona turned and headed out the door of the cell.

The gunshot rang out as Jona sauntered down the corridor.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Pacific Ocean**

The door opened with a hiss, and Lacus Clyne again greeted Sai Argyle with a polite smile.

"I apologize for dragging you down here again," she said with a subtle bow of her head, "but I'm afraid I need some help." She gestured towards her computer. "There is another file that I need decrypted. I suppose I should have paid more attention in those computer classes in school."

Somehow, Sai had a hard time imagining Lacus Clyne as an inattentive student. "Well, they don't teach you how to hack through encrypted files in school," he said with a shrug, taking a seat in front of her computer and setting to work. Once again, the file's meager protections proved no match for a seasoned computer expert, and before long, Sai and Lacus found themselves confronted with a detailed background about a haunted, disheveled-looking man called "Ramirez."

"That's him," Lacus said, leaning forward intently. "That's the person who assassinated Chairwoman Canaver."

"The Blue Cosmos guy?" Sai asked, arching an eyebrow. Lacus shook her head.

"Blue Cosmos claimed responsibility for it," she explained, "and all the evidence pointed to them. But at the same time, a number of sources about this man's past disappeared. But this— " she paused to tap a few keys, scanning the document for the name of Blue Cosmos, "does not say anything about Blue Cosmos."

Sai blinked. "Blue Cosmos didn't do it, then?"

Lacus straightened up, shaking her head. "No," she said, "this was the work of Rau Le Creuset."

Sai looked between the screen and Lacus, not connecting the dots. What did Rau Le Creuset have to do with any of this? He thought back to the hulking machine that Kira had fought at Jachin Due— a ZAFT Gundam that Athrun had said had Rau Le Creuset in its cockpit. But what did he have to do with assassinations and politics?

"Le Creuset must have hired this man to kill Chairwoman Canaver," Lacus explained, sensing Sai's confusion, "and planted the evidence to make it look as if Blue Cosmos did the killing. And Blue Cosmos is the first group that most people will blame for this sort of incident."

Sai blinked again. "He has that much power?"

"He's one of the most powerful men in the world," Lacus said grimly.

Sai looked back at the screen, regarding the haunted face of Ramirez. "Didn't Kira kill him?"

He glanced up at Lacus, and for a moment, he caught a glimmer of pain in her eyes. It vanished an instant later, and she shook her head.

"Le Creuset is an excellent pilot," she said sadly. "Even Kira would be hard-pressed to keep up with him."

Sai kicked himself for mentioning Kira. "I'm sorry," he began, "I didn't mean— " He cut himself off, looking back up at her. "Well…I miss him too, I guess."

Lacus glanced at him quizzically.

"We went to school together on Heliopolis," Sai explained with a shrug, "but he was always better than me, because he was a Coordinator."

"Being a Coordinator doesn't make anyone better than anyone else," Lacus pointed out. "You are good at some things, and Kira was good at others."

"That's what he said," Sai said with a sad smile. "I guess he's right…but watching him fight in the Strike and then the Freedom, it was always hard to remember that." He stood up and took a step back.

"You play an important role as well," Lacus said. "Kira's role may have been flashier and more dramatic, but that does not make yours any less important."

"I know," Sai said with another shrug. "It's a thankless job."

Lacus took his hand gently; he blinked again in surprise.

"It doesn't have to be," she said. "Thank you, Sai, for helping to keep us safe."

Sai smiled back.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 21st, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Pacific Ocean**

"_NO!_"

A chair went sailing across the simulator room as Jack O'Hara struggled against the overpowering strength of a handful of white-coated technicians.

"Stop fighting us," Peterson said from across the room, arms crossed, glowering furiously at the screaming boy. "We are on a tight schedule, and we have to run more tests."

"_I DON'T WANNA DO IT AGAIN!_" Jack shrieked. "_It's gonna kill me! IT'S GONNA KILL ME!_"

"You exist for no other purpose than to make this system work!" Peterson snapped. "Now stop fighting us!"

The door slid open with a hiss, and Peterson cast his burning eyes towards Alison MacIntyre as she stormed into the room, her face livid.

"What the hell is going on in here?!" she demanded, jabbing a vindictive finger at him. "Peterson! Explain yourself!"

"I told you, we're running another test on the Psyco System," he shot back. "This Extended has no worth to us if we don't continue testing this system."

"Look at him!" Alison exclaimed, pointing at Jack as the technicians forced him to his knees. "He can't handle it! We can't overwork him, or else he'll die, and _then_ what good will your damn Psyco System be?!"

Peterson glared at her for a moment, before glancing at the technicians. They dutifully released Jack, letting him topple to the floor. Alison helped him back up.

"He's going back to the maintenance pod," she said resolutely. "Run the test later."

The door opened again, and this time Ian Lee strode in, flanked by two armed guards.

"My crew reports a disturbance down here," he intoned, casting a commanding gaze across the room. "Major. Would you care to explain, or shall I have to take more punitive measures to ensure that my ship isn't torn apart by infighting?"

Alison glanced warily at a fuming Peterson. "I apologize, captain," she said. "It was unprofessional to get into a shouting match. It won't happen again."

Lee cast a dour glance at Jack, slumped over next to Alison, supported only by her arms. "And what's happened to him?"

She looked down pointedly at him and hoisted him up further. "Doctor Peterson was attempting to run more tests on the Psyco System," she explained, "but Jack is obviously in no condition to continue."

"It's a system that will revolutionize mobile suit combat, captain," Peterson added, stepping forward. "Imagine how effective our pilots would be if they could directly interface with the complex programming of a mobile suit."

"It's a sensory overload," Alison shot back. "Not even a Coordinator can handle that much information all at once."

Lee held up a hand to silence them both.

"I will not have you two fighting aboard my ship," he said. "Major, return Jack to his maintenance pod. Doctor, while I respect your determination to get this system working, Jack O'Hara remains a pilot under my command, and I will not allow you to take him or his machine out of action. Is that understood?"

Peterson's glare was almost imperceptible. "Yes sir," he said, with a dutiful salute.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Pacific Ocean**

"Fifty more suspected Athha loyalists were rounded up today in a military raid in the northern wilderness, as reported by the Orb Ministry of Defense," the anchor intoned. On the bridge of the _Megami_, Cagalli stewed, glowering furiously at the screen as she watched her followers being led into a waiting truck by flak-jacketed Orb troops.

"That was Akai's unit," Andy said dourly from his haunt towards the back of the bridge. "I hope they didn't find his M1 units."

"We _have to do something!_" Cagalli growled, standing up and turning towards the rest of the bridge. "I can't take this! We're sitting here and waiting and _abandoning them!_"

"It's not that simple— " Murrue began from the captain's seat.

"What are we going to have left to fight with if we _don't go help them?!"_ Cagalli shot back.

"She's got a point," Andy admitted with a shrug. "We're watching our army get disintegrated here." He looked back at Cagalli. "But we can't just waltz into Orb and yell at the Seirans until they stop. They're going to be ready for us."

Cagalli slumped back into her chair, seething.

"Could we ask the Sahakus for help?" Andy added.

"Rondo Mina Sahaku won't help us," Cagalli answered, clenching her teeth. "She was my father's enemy. She wouldn't help me."

"Besides, she's lying low on Ame-no-Mihashira for a reason," Murrue put in. "And the Sahakus are the last family you want to owe anything to."

Cagalli put her head in her hands, grumbling in frustration. "Are we supposed to sit here and watch everything fall apart?"

Murrue paused, before leaning forward. "Arnold," she said, "give us a map of the South Pacific, centered on Orb."

Neumann glanced over his shoulder. "Yes ma'am," he answered, duly bringing the map up on the main screen. Cagalli looked up inquisitively as Murrue stood, pointing to it.

"Jona knew how to get in touch with us," she said, "but it's been over a day and it doesn't look like he's sent any forces after us." She turned around to face Cagalli. "So this crackdown on our allies in Orb must be the bait for a trap."

"That's why we have to go and help them!" Cagalli insisted.

"But it's a trap," Andy pointed out. "They'll expect us to come in, guns blazing."

"So, on that assumption," Murrue continued, "they'll probably throw substantial force at us if we fall for the trap." She pointed back at the map, and the outline of Orb's array of islands. "If we get close enough to Orb, we can draw all those forces into a chase after us, which means our allies will have a chance to get underground and safe."

"But then we'll have Orb forces chasing us," Cagalli protested. "We can't do anything if they have us on the run."

"I steered this ship through the mother of all space battles, ma'am," Neumann spoke up from the helm. "A few surface ships won't be a problem."

"We can lose them in the Indonesian islands," Murrue added. "We're faster and better-armed. And they'll be butting up against that Alliance _Archangel_-class that attacked us a while ago."

Cagalli looked to Andy; he nodded almost imperceptibly.

"Are you sure we can pull this off?" she asked. Murrue nodded. Cagalli looked back up at the screen. "Okay," she said, "set course for Orb."

——————————————————————————————————————————

To be continued…


	5. Phase 05: Agent of the Devil

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

——————————————————————————————————————————

Phase 05 - Agent of the Devil

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 24th, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Philippine Sea**

"Five warships closing in from four o'clock!" Miriallia's voice rang through the bridge, as the _Megami_ sliced forward through the waves.

"Is it Orb?" Murrue asked, peering ahead over the blurry horizon. Thick black clouds had gathered overhead, spewing rain and lightning, obscuring everything under a sickly gray-green pall. A bolt of lightning ripped through the sky, illuminating the sea in a flash, and for a moment five dots on the horizon appeared in formation.

"We're still two days out from Orb," Neumann muttered. "Captain— "

"It must be an open ocean patrol," Murrue concluded. "Either that or they knew we were coming."

"There are mobile suits overhead too!" Milly added urgently. "At least thirty in the air!"

"They knew we were coming," Murrue said. "Mobile suits, prepare to launch! We'll engage them ship-to-ship!"

In the hangar, Athrun Zala snapped his helmet visor shut as he scrambled down the gantry towards the Justice's cockpit. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of Cagalli in her distinct pink flight suit, racing towards the waiting Strike Rouge.

"Cagalli!" he called out. "You're going out too?!"

"Of course I am!" Cagalli shot back, lunging into the Strike Rouge's cockpit and slamming the hatch shut.

Athrun cursed under his breath. "You always do this," he growled, leaping into his own machine and starting it up.

"What the hell are you doing, Zala?! Move your slow ass!" Yzak screamed, as the Duel stomped down in front of the Justice.

The Aegis marched past. "Murasame teams, follow your commanders," Andy barked. "We're up against a squadron of warships and a helluva lot of air support! Move!"

The Justice came to life with a green flash from its eyes. Athrun looked out at the stormy sky through the _Megami_'s open catapult doors as he moved the Justice onto the catapult.

"Athrun Zala, Justice, _launching!_"

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb National Defense Headquarters, Onogoro Island, United Emirates of Orb**

"Admiral," the commanding officer said with a sharp salute, "the _Akamaiou_ squadron has made contact with the _Megami_."

Standing atop the command room of the National Defense Headquarters, Jona smiled thinly over at his disgruntled-looking father. "Whether or not we militarily defeat them is irrelevant, father," he said reassuringly. "So long as we get clear pictures of them fighting and killing Orb soldiers, we will win politically."

"We sent only five ships, Jona," Unato snapped back. "Are you sure that this will defeat them?"

"Like I said," answered Jona testily, "we win whether or not the _Megami_ is sunk, so long as she fights back." He glanced over at the commander.

"They've launched mobile suits," he supplied. "The _Akamaiou_ squadron is moving to engage."

Jona smiled again at Unato.

"You will take responsibility for this if it fails," Unato growled, turning and disappearing through the command room's door. Jona chuckled to himself as he looked back at the screens, of the video feeds that showed the _Megami_ silhouetted against a stormy sky.

_You can run and you can hide, Cagalli, but you can't escape._

——————————————————————————————————————————

"Commander," the Murasame pilot began, "what are our orders?"

Athrun Zala narrowed his eyes at the Strike Rouge, streaming through the air beside him, as Cagalli answered.

"We have to fight our way through and rescue what's left of our supporters in Orb," she said. Athrun frowned at the hint of hesitance in her voice. "Fight to force the Orb fleet to retreat."

"You heard her," Andy added, as the Aegis rocketed forward. "Go!"

The Murasames banked apart as the Gundams charged. Athrun narrowed his eyes at the approaching mobile suits, as the Orb Murasames swung into battle, releasing a swarm of missiles. Cursing, Athrun fired a CIWS volley into the missile armada, blasting them apart, and lunged over the explosion— only to be met with a shower of beam blasts from a squadron of M1 Astrays, pounding against his shield.

"Murasame squadron, cover me!" he cried, backing away and returning fire with his beam rifle. One of the M1s lost an arm, but the rest kept coming. Another flurry of missiles came streaking down from a quartet of Murasames behind the Justice, pounding against the M1s' shields and knocking one of them out of the sky.

Athrun cast a rapid glance over at the Strike Rouge, as it went streaking towards the fleet below. "Is she insane?!" he cried. "Murasames, follow me!" The Justice rocketed after the Strike Rouge, plowing through beam fire from another squad of M1s. An enemy Murasame swept in behind him, spewing beam fire— Athrun scowled and released the Justice's subflight lifter, slamming the Murasame back as the Justice itself plunged down towards the ocean.

"What the hell are you doing, Zala?!" Yzak's voice screamed through the speakers. "You're going to crash!"

Athrun brushed it off, squeezing off a shot as he splashed down and picking off an M1 as it moved in behind the Strike Rouge for a killing shot. The subflight lifter came down next, slamming back into place, and Athrun took off along the water's surface, streaking underneath the return fire of the ships and their mobile suit defenders.

Aboard the _Megami_, shells exploded around the ship, rattling it to the core. Murrue narrowed her eyes up ahead at the fleet.

"We can't just sit here and wait to get shot down," she muttered. "Chandra, start targeting the ships! Neumann, I'll leave evasive maneuvers to you!"

The _Megami_ slowly banked aside as another volley of shells whistled by, one of them clipping the tip of the ship's portside wing. The portside Valiant opened fire, but its shell splashed harmlessly in the water next to an _Aegis_ battleship, as it returned fire again.

Down below, a flurry of beam shots drove back the Strike Rouge and the four Murasames on its flanks. The Justice darted up into their path, taking the brunt of the attack with its shield and firing back with its beam cannons, wiping out another M1 Astray on the deck of an _Aegis_ battleship.

"Let the _Megami_ handle the ships!" Athrun shouted. "We need to take care of the mobile suits first!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

A cloud of missiles came slamming into the Duel Gundam's armor, scorching its Assault Shroud and rattling its shield. Yzak clenched his teeth as his machine went reeling back, and fired a railgun shell through the smoke, blowing an enemy Murasame out of the air. The scarred Duel lunged out of the smoke, squeezing off another shot from its beam rifle and forcing another Murasame to desperately veer aside— easy prey for a Murasame at his side to cut it down with its beam saber.

A shell from one of the Orb ships slammed into the allied Murasame, sending it spiraling down to the ocean in flames.

"Dammit!" Yzak growled. "I already lost one!"

"Don't feel bad," Dearka's voice answered, scratchy and coarse. "I lost one too."

The Duel whirled around, firing a beam rifle shot again to pick off an incoming M1 Astray. "It's like they want us to fight them!" Another M1 came streaking in from behind, beam saber upraised— Yzak turned and jetted backwards, dodging its killing slash and piercing its cockpit with another beam rifle shot. "They're not sending any mobile suits after the ship!"

Up above, a thundering explosion signaled the death of another M1, and the Aile Strike dove out of the blast. "They're not!?" Mwu exclaimed. "_Megami_, confirm! Are they sending any mobile suits after you?!"

"Negative," Milly's voice answered. "Only the ships are attacking."

"Then what the hell are they fighting us for?!" Mwu snapped. The Aile Strike dodged one beam shot and deflected another with its shield. "Is this the trap?!"

"I'm not picking up anything else!" Sai put in. "Only those five ships and their mobile suits!"

"Then what is this?" Murrue wondered.

Down below, the Strike Rouge and Justice went streaking towards the fleet, their squadrons of Murasames right behind them.

"If this is a trap," Athrun said dourly, "then we need to get through this fleet quickly, before they close the trap on us."

The ships opened fire again— the mobile suits darted apart, but one of the Murasames was blown out of the sky. Cagalli ground her teeth furiously.

"We've already lost four mobile suits!" she exclaimed. "They're— " She was cut off by another shell, slamming the Strike Rouge head-on.

"Cagalli!" Athrun shouted, darting in front of the staggering Rouge and shooting down the next shell. "_Megami_, we can't handle this ourselves! Give us some support!"

On the _Megami_, Murrue glanced over at Neumann. "Move us forward, and engage those ships at point-blank range! Fire the Gottfrieds on my command!"

"But at point-blank range we'll take too much enemy fire!" Sai protested.

"Just do it!" Murrue shot back. The _Megami_ plunged forward, CIWS blazing and cutting down missiles. Shells came slamming into the _Megami_'s hull, tearing apart the jet-black armor, but the ship plowed forward.

"Gottfrieds, _FIRE!_"

Eight thick green columns of energy lanced out from the battleship's smoking hull— a moment later, four of the five warships snapped in two, exploding into four titanic clouds of smoke and fire and shrapnel. The _Megami_ swept through the wreckage, spewing smoke, and slowly banked around for another pass— but an instant later, the remaining ship, itself damaged, fired flares up into the air.

"They're retreating?!" Cagalli exclaimed. The Orb mobile suits, many of them damaged and smoking, pulled back, returning to the remaining ship. "_Megami_, what's our condition?"

"Not good," Murrue answered, her voice broken by the static. "We've taken some pretty bad damage and we've lost five Murasames. We need to set down somewhere and repair before we can start provoking Orb some more."

Cagalli bit back a curse under her breath. "Our supporters in Orb aren't going to last that long!"

"Neither will we if we pick a fight with Orb like this," Mwu pointed out. "Captain, how about Leyte Gulf? No one's lived there since at least the Reconstruction Wars."

A flash of lightning lit up the sky. Athrun glanced over at the Orb battleship, as the mobile suits clustered around it and slowly began to move back towards the horizon.

"Cagalli," he said, "let's go to Leyte Gulf. We'll figure things out from there."

Cagalli bowed her head, silent, as the mobile suits returned to the stricken _Megami_.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The Aegis shuddered to a halt in the hangar as the _Megami_ raced towards Leyte Gulf. Even as he opened the cockpit, Andy could see some of the damage inside. An armor-piercing shell had, true to its name, managed to bore its way at least a meter through the _Megami_'s armor, blowing open a gaping hull in the port side of the hangar.

Andy pulled his helmet off with a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "That didn't go well," he said.

Down below, Murdoch screamed something not quite intelligible at the other mechanics, as the Strike Rouge staggered into the hangar. Andy shook his head— Cagalli was bound to throw a fit over this, of course.

And, he had to admit, he couldn't blame her. Things were starting to fall apart already— instead of being greeted as the leaders of a glorious revolution, they were greeted by the guns of the Atlantic Federation.

The Strike Rouge came to a stop across the hangar, the cockpit hatch sliding open with a hiss, and Andy steeled himself for another tirade.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 25th, CE 73 - Equatorial Union _Spengler_-class aircraft carrier _Sukarno_, South China Sea**

"Sir," the deck officer said, a piece of paper in hand, "we've tracked the rogue ship to the Philippines."

Admiral Tapang, the grizzled, bronze-skinned man in a medal-laden white uniform, crossed his arms, staring stonily out at the blurry horizon. "Where is its destination?" he asked, his voice rumbling across the bridge.

"It seems to be angling for Leyte Gulf," the officer answered, gesturing to a map of the Philippines and the surrounding areas. According to the Orb videos, the ship is moderately damaged."

"Then they probably intend to repair in Leyte Gulf," Tapang said. "The Philippines in general have been largely uninhabited since the Reconstruction War, so it's an ideal place to hide." He glanced back at the officer. "Make way for Leyte Gulf and inform the Prime Minister of this change of events."

The officer shuffled off with a smart salute. Tapang returned his gaze to the horizon— somewhere out there was the Philippines, where the enemy was seeking refuge. But it was a wise choice, he supposed— the Philippines had seen vicious fighting in the Reconstruction War, leading several cities to be outright abandoned. And because of the space colony boom after the war, there was little reason to move back. The rogues were choosing a graveyard to hide in— so of course, his men would have to be respectful.

But that led him to wonder about the Atlantic Federation's ship. The captain had seemed reasonable enough— but would that translate to respect for the dead? The Atlantic Federation did not have a good track record for respecting anything, from the lives of its chief ally's troops to the neutrality of an island nation with a mass driver and an idealistic leader. So obviously, the _Sukarno_ had to get there first, and set the rules of engagement for the Atlantic Federation.

And, of course, there were the rogues themselves. Were they aware of the graveyard they were walking into? Tapang hoped so. But it was also worth noting that there were few people alive who remembered the Reconstruction War, or what had happened to the Philippines during it— the air raids and gas attacks that killed thousands and drove millions to the north, towards China and Japan, to escape the raiders who waved guns and holy books. Once-proud cities lay empty— would either side respect that?

Tapang glanced over at the communications officer. "Ensign," he said, "get me a line to the Atlantic Federation ship, the _Mephistopheles_."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Philippine Sea**

Jack O'Hara was sound asleep in his maintenance pod. Alison was grateful— he had been unusually energetic earlier today, and Alison had feared that the technicians would need to use less gentle methods of calming him down. It was always difficult to watch them calm him down by force— his life's purpose was violence, so the less of it he saw, the better.

Lee had mentioned that headquarters was sending Special Forces troops to the _Mephistopheles_ to "oversee" things. Alison wondered grimly what that was supposed to mean. The Extended project was normally the purview of the Special Forces, among other more shadowy units. It was unusual for a regular Atlantic Federation Navy unit like the _Mephistopheles_ to be assigned an Extended— particularly a unit under the command of an officer like Lieutenant Commander Ian Lee. He was competent, to be sure, but he was by no means a star— so Alison couldn't explain why her important charge was being placed under the command of an average officer.

Jack stirred for a moment, and then drifted back to sleep. Alison settled back into her position against the wall, watching him silently. He was still a boy— and, if Alison had been a decade younger and Jack had been the average boy that he looked like, she might have found him attractive. But he could not be attractive now— not now, with all that had been done to him. He was the legacy of the Valentine War, of Lodonia Island, of Murata Azrael, of the Marshall Colony, of Althea Crater. Although Extended like Jack predated the biological CPU program by at least a decade, he was nonetheless the successor to those three CPUs that had managed to break their bonds, fend off the Federation at the neutral colony of Avalon, and escape the Earth Sphere aboard a transport to Jupiter. And she sometimes wished that Jack could do the same.

Of course, without her, Jack would waste away and die. That was the way they were made— once separated from their caretakers, the all-important figure fixated in their minds, their bodily functions would slowly begin to shut down, leaving a window of time open for their retrieval, but at any rate acting as a sort of self-destruct sequence to ensure that the secret would be safe. So if Jack were to survive away from the Atlantic Federation, she would have to go with him. And she was not yet ready to abandon her country.

Although sometimes she wondered whether her country had abandoned her.

The Special Forces troops were not due to arrive for another two or three days. Alison hoped that they would leave Jack alone when they arrived.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Admiral Tapang rang at the worst times, Lee mused— cutting short his conversation with Lieutenant Murphy about the _Mephistopheles_' latest additions to its crew. But the admiral had seniority in rank, and Lee was even less enthused by the thought of his apparent new allies being fitful and uncooperative— so it was a professional courtesy to answer him.

Settling into the captain's chair, Lee offered Tapang a salute. "Admiral," he said, "the Orb Raiders ship is heading south, towards Leyte Gulf in the Philippines."

"I know," the admiral intoned, "and that is the purpose of this transmission. My fleet will arrive there soon, and we will be able to join forces and destroy the rogues." He paused meaningfully. "Which brings me to the point of this message, captain."

Lee watched the admiral carefully, as he paused to choose his words.

"I come from the Philippines, Tapang said, "as do a number of my officers and sailors. We are all proud men who serve the military of the Equatorial Union, but we have not forgotten our heritage. The Philippines are our home."

"I understand, Admiral," Lee said, "but the Philippine islands are largely uninhabited— especially Leyte Island— so risk to civilians should be minimal."

"That is not my concern, captain," Tapang said gravely. "You may be too young to remember, but I am not. During the Reconstruction War, religious fanatics from Indonesia attacked the Philippines. They used chemical weapons and napalm. Thousands died; millions fled; our finest cities were transformed into ghost towns. My people lay buried in the rubble of those islands, captain— it is a graveyard. When we engage the enemy there, I ask that you respect that."

Lee studied the grizzled old warrior's face, nodding somberly. "I understand, Admiral," he said. "If the enemy tries to use the cities as a shield, we will have no choice but to pursue. But we will do our best to keep that from happening."

Tapang gave Lee a grim nod of his own. "Thank you, captain."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 26th, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

The massive black ship, cratered and scarred, shuddered to a halt in the surf. The ship lurched forward once, and then, as if letting out a great, airy sigh, sank into the wet, compacted sand.

On the open-air deck of the _Megami_, Mwu watched it all impassively, taking in the sweeping vista of a place that had seen more than its fair share of violence. The legacy of that violence had made itself known as the _Megami_ made its way into the gulf, slowly turned around, and backed into the beach. Neumann had had to dodge a number of rusting wrecks in the gulf— some of them looked much older than others. He thought back to his history classes— which, as he had predicted during his schooling, had turned out to be as useless as he thought they would— and tried to remember what had happened here. A war, long ago, that had redrawn the maps of the world and changed the course of history— back then, the world had been split up into a handful of superpowers competing for control over the dozens of impoverished countries and colonies and unclaimed scraps of territory, in some mad quest to rule the world. One such empire had picked a fight with another, slumbering colossus— and that colossus was none too pleased to be awakened, roaring out of its territory with fleets and armies and a fighting spirit that brought the war one day to this place, to Leyte Gulf. Mwu remembered being told about a battle here— then the largest naval battle in history— where the fleet of one such empire found itself on the bottom of the sea.

That was probably where the older wrecks had come from. AD 1944 was a long time ago, after all.

But the other wrecks, that looked newer— or, at least, as new as half-sunken warships could look— had come from some other battle. There were still flags flying from a few of the ships, but time had worn their colors away. They seemed to coincide with the wreckage littering the beach— although Mwu was too far away to make out anything, the small dark spots strewn across the sand were undoubtedly relics of wars long past. It had been the Reconstruction War, he supposed, that had brought this wreckage to the shores of Leyte Gulf. The history books had talked of wars on terror and _jihad_…but it was all so distant, and the only things testifying to it now were the wrecked warships lying in the ocean.

The knowledge of the history books was starting to fill itself back in— some kind of religious turmoil, gripping the world and pitting the world's most powerful nations against billions of impoverished people who had little more than their readiness to die for their cause. The world's economy shattered like glass as the human race plunged into another self-made inferno— and at some point, the hatreds had led to a battle on the sea, here at Leyte Gulf, and once again the waters had found themselves choked with demolished warships and bodies.

Mwu scratched his head uncomfortably, looking out at the wrecks. All the reminders of war were slowly surrounding him.

But the _Megami_ would be spending quite a bit of time here, he reminded himself, so he would have to get used to it.

_That's irony for ya,_ he thought. _Fighting to be free of war, doing it from a place where you can't think of anything but war._

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 27th, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Philippine Sea**

"This is the worst fucking weather they could have chosen for this kind of operation!" Murphy shouted, his massive arms holding his thick blue service overcoat around him as the _Mephistopheles_' catapult doors opened. Up ahead, an Atlantic Federation cargo plane's rear hatch yawned open, revealing a small contingent of black mobile suits.

At Murphy's side, clutching his own coat around his shoulders, Lee blinked through the howling wind and rain. "That must be them," he said. "I see they're bringing the Dark Daggers."

"We're in the middle of a typhoon!" Murphy exclaimed. "Did they not notice?!"

The five Dark Dagger Ls dropped out the back of the plane, taking off with a flash and gliding into the _Mephistopheles_' hangar. The catapult doors came swinging shut behind them as the mobile suits stomped into five hastily opened racks along the port side of the hangar. The cockpit hatch on the lead Dagger opened with a hiss.

"That's him," Lee said dourly, as he and Murphy approached. "Colonel Rico Barbosa."

The dashing figure of the colonel lowered himself on a winch to the hangar floor, throwing back a twisted ponytail of blond hair and brushing a stray lock out of his eyes. The scar over his left eye contorted as he narrowed his eyes inquisitively down at the captain, the boots of his black Alliance Special Forces uniform hitting the floor softly.

"Colonel," Lee greeted with a sharp salute. "Welcome aboard the _Mephistopheles_."

Rico Barbosa turned a calculating eye on Lee. "The pleasure's mine, captain," he said, returning the salute and stiffly shaking Lee's hand. "Headquarters has sent me to oversee the destruction of that mysterious black ship." He smiled thinly. "As well as a certain passenger of yours."

Lee nodded grimly, falling into step at Barbosa's side as they both headed out of the hangar. "Our intelligence reports that it took damage in an engagement with the Orb Navy, and they're heading towards the Philippines to make repairs."

"I know," Barbosa said airily, "so now is the time to strike and finish them off."

Lee shifted uncomfortably. "The Equatorial Union is sending ships— "

"I know," Barbosa repeated, this time testily, "but they won't get in our way. Now that I'm here they'll listen to us." He glanced over at Lee. "I hear you have an Extended aboard to test an experimental cockpit system."

Lee and Murphy shared an uneasy glance. "We do, sir," he said.

Barbosa's grin grew a little wider. "I'd like to see it."

——————————————————————————————————————————

To be continued…


	6. Phase 06: Replaceable

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

——————————————————————————————————————————

Phase 06 - Replaceable

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 28th, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

It was something of a menial task, Yzak mused, but as he maneuvered the Duel into position next to an empty patch in the _Megami_'s hull, he figured that his trusty machine was best to put to use helping repair the damage. The less time they had to spend wedged in the sand, the better. So to that end, the Duel was serving as an impromptu crane, swinging a replacement panel of hull armor into place. Down below, Murdoch held his arms up— the mechanics descended into the gap between the panel and the ship's superstructure to reattach cables and pipes inside the armor. There wasn't much for Yzak to do in this stage of the armor replacement, so he sat back to wait.

Down below, Murdoch directed his men with consummate skill, and for their part, his men worked with artistic precision as they reconnected the maze of lines in the _Megami_'s armor. Yzak did have to admit that Murdoch could put a number of ZAFT's technicians to shame— and ZAFT's technicians were the ones with the beefed-up DNA. But what did a nicer set of genes really guarantee? It was still incumbent upon the one with the improved genetics to make the most of that increased potential. After all, it had largely been Naturals who had built his very machine— and, Yzak had to admit, even two years later, it was still holding up relatively well. Coordinators might have invented the mobile suit, but Naturals could play that game too.

Did it matter anymore whether someone's genes had been altered before birth? Yzak was no longer sure. The war had found a painful way to teach him that, improved genetics or not, every combatant was a human being. Dearka had figured that one out first.

Of course, Yzak did like to think that Dearka had better reasons to desert ZAFT than wanting to sleep with the Natural girl.

His thoughts turned towards the Natural girl in question. He had only barely been able to piece together her story from what Dearka told him— Miriallia Haww had lived on Heliopolis when she and her friends swept up aboard the _Archangel_ and became part of its crew. Athrun had killed her boyfriend in battle in the Marshall Islands, during the fateful fight where Dearka was captured and Athrun supposedly destroyed the dreaded Strike. And although, as Dearka put it, "she struggled with it," she managed to hold up this long. The hardened soldier in Yzak was quick to point out that Miriallia was but one of millions of girls across the Earth Sphere to lose their boyfriends in war, so nothing made her case so special.

But, he noted, the hardened soldier never pointed out that Yzak was but one of millions of men across the Earth Sphere to lose their mothers in war. Funny how that worked.

That was why he was still fighting, though, wasn't it? To have a little corner of the world where he wouldn't have to know that kind of suffering again, where people who wanted no part in the world's wars could ride out the storms and live their lives as human beings should? It was hard to remember that when he found his ship jammed into the sand on a deserted, war-torn island, feverishly repairing damage before anyone could come bother them, surrounded by the rusting wrecks of long-ago wars. And it was even harder to believe that Cagalli Yula Athha, who always had to go to someone else for guidance on her own revolution, would be able to guide Orb through the troubled political waters of the Cosmic Era. Her father had tried to do that and the whole thing ended in an occupation. Yzak thought that the point was to avoid being occupied.

But was that any reason to stop fighting? Apparently, it hadn't been reason enough for Miriallia.

"Okay, lower it in and we'll weld the panel in!" Murdoch's voice shouted. Yzak looked down below— the mechanics had gathered on the scaffolding around the empty spot of replaced armor. Yzak pushed the panel into place, and the mechanics moved again.

He rubbed at the scar on his face. Still a good enough reason to fight.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Sai found himself truly grateful for Andy's coffee-brewing skills. He had been up for nearly thirty-six hours in the _Megami_'s engine room, recalibrating the computers after an unlucky hit had scrambled them and forced the engine room technicians to wing it on thruster outputs. Only after he had descended into the engine room's labyrinthine computer system did he realize just how complicated it was— and he began to see why it had taken them months to finish this thing. Only Andy's espresso had kept him from keeling over.

The engine computer room's door slid open with a hiss— Sai glanced over his shoulder, and blinked in surprise as Lacus Clyne entered, holding a box of something.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Lacus said, handing over the box, "but Commander Bartfeldt asked me to bring you something to eat. He tells me you've been in here for a long time."

Sai blinked again and rubbed his eyes. "All day," he grunted, opening up and finding the usual rations— as well as a Thermos that smelled like it was full of more of that wonder-working coffee. "Thanks, I'm gonna need this stuff."

"You need not work yourself so hard," Lacus added, as Sai took a sip of the wonder drug and sighed contentedly. "We will need you again on the bridge if we're attacked while we're waiting here."

Sai shook his head. "Gotta do something," he said. "I only have a few hours of work to go and I don't want to be useless." He glanced back at her. "Just because I'm not a Coordinator doesn't mean I can't get stuff done."

Lacus blinked back. "Whether or not you're a Coordinator or a Natural makes no difference," she answered. "But I wouldn't want you to jeopardize your health working so hard."

Sai smiled and took another sip of coffee. "I've done stuff like this before," he said with a tired shrug. "I'll be okay."

Lacus did not appear convinced, but nodded nevertheless. "Let me know if you need anything," she said, putting a tender hand on his shoulder. "You don't have to do everything."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Philippines Sea**

The scene was an ominous one. On one side of the room was an array of control panels, manned by white-coated technicians. Behind them stood a number of officers. Ian Lee glanced over at the imposing, cross-armed form of Rico Barbosa, looking on with bemusement. A step or two in front of them, Alison and Peterson were looking across the room. Lee could sense Alison's anxiety; he knew what problems she had with this idea, but Rico Barbosa was a Colonel in the Atlantic Federation Special Forces— they couldn't very well say no. Arrayed over their heads was a screen, depicting a Jet Dagger L standing on a rocky shore, with an armada of dots in the sky, heralding an approaching mobile suit force.

On the other side of the room, strapped into a simulator chair from which emanated dozens of cables, Jack O'Hara sat in terror, staring at the steely officers.

"Colonel," Alison said, turning to face Barbosa, and— as Lee noted— restraining herself, "the system is almost ready for demonstration."

"I hope it's all you tell me it is, Major," Barbosa said with a cocked eyebrow.

"After our trials, we will begin work at Lodonia on a system that can be used by regular troops," Peterson added, "and we will be able to surpass Coordinators in reaction time, reflexes, spatial awareness, and decision-making skills, as you are about to see." He glanced at one of the technicians, who nodded. "The system is ready."

"Then let's begin," Barbosa said.

Alison visibly steeled herself. "Activate the Psyco System," she said.

Lee felt his stomach turn.

The lights flickered on— Jack's eyes went wide with pain, his muscles rippled with tension, and he let out an ear-piercing scream. On the screen, the Dagger took off, storming towards a squadron of ZAFT mobile suits. The mobile suits opened fire, but with the grace of a dancer, the Dagger slipped through openings in the barrage and returned fire in one fluid motion, picking a DINN out of the sky as it did.

"Reaction time is averaging at .102 seconds," one of the technicians said. "Heart rate and pulse are registering green."

The Dagger struck again, cleaving a GINN standing on a Guul in two with a beam saber. It pushed off from the Guul, directing the subflight platform into another DINN and taking it down with a thunderous blast. Barbosa nodded with approval.

"System operating at 20 intensity," the technician said. "Increase output?"

"Go to 30," Peterson instructed.

Lee watched Alison carefully as she stared in a mix of pain and fury at the boy in the chair ahead of her. Jack was writhing in agony, his face fast reddening, his eyes wide and bloodshot, his body taut with the tension of a man in pain as he furiously worked at the simulator's controls. The straps holding him down were already starting to give way.

On the screen, the Dagger ducked through another barrage of firepower, wiping out two GINNs in one artistic beam saber slash. It ducked aside from a beam blast from a Guul-supported GuAIZ, and an instant later, flung a Stiletto penetrator into the GuAIZ's cockpit, blowing the mobile suit out of the air.

"Heart rate just rose to yellow, sir," the technician warned.

"Take us to 50," Peterson said. "Jack is capable of far more than this."

Jack let out another shriek, as the Dagger on the screen twisted and spiraled with superhuman grace through the intensifying firepower of its foes. Missiles sailed mere centimeters past its armor as it slithered through a web of machinegun rounds and beam blasts, shooting down a pair of DINNs and another Guul-wielding GINN in the process.

"He's not looking good, Colonel," Lee put in. "Perhaps we should stop."

"I want to see what this thing can do," Barbosa said conclusively. "So shut up and let's watch."

"Blood pressure is yellow," added the technician.

"Colonel," Alison said, "if we push Jack too far, it could kill him."

"We can always replace Extended," answered Barbosa, waving dismissively. "I want to see how far he can go."

"But Colonel— " Alison protested.

"Increase output to 60," Peterson put in, casting a withering glare at Alison. She looked back in horror, and Lee felt his blood run cold as Jack let out another agonized shriek. The Dagger's moves became quicker, more frenzied, more precise, as it continued to tear through the ZAFT mobile suits.

"Colonel, if we go any higher than 70, he runs the substantial risk of a heart attack," the technician warned.

"Then he runs the risk," Barbosa said. "70, now."

"Colonel, this isn't necessary!" Alison exclaimed. "We'll kill him at this rate!"

"Extended can always be replaced," Barbosa snapped. "Now shut up, or I'll have you court-martialed for insubordination!"

Lee eyed the emergency power cutoff switch on the console in front of him, and looked up at Jack, writhing in pain inside the simulator as the Dagger danced through the air on the screen. Another shriek ripped through the air, resonating up and down Lee's spine, chilling him to the core.

"Heart rate and blood pressure are red," the technician put in. "Colonel, we should stop— "

"I'll push this bastard as far as he'll go," Barbosa. "Go to 80, let's see if we can push him to 100."

"Colonel, 80 will kill him!" Alison cried.

"He can handle 80!" Peterson shot back. "Increase output by— "

The screens went dark; the system shut off; Jack slumped forward, his restraints finally giving way, soaked in sweat, coughing and shaking violently. All eyes turned towards Lee, his hand on the cutoff switch.

"Colonel," he said sternly, "as captain of this ship, I must stop this test before it kills a member of my crew."

"An Extended is not a member of a crew," Barbosa shot back. "Stop this nonsense at once and resume the demonstration."

"As captain, Atlantic Federation law permits me to take whatever steps are necessary to protect my crew, regardless of whether or not a passenger can outrank me," Lee answered. "Jack O'Hara is a mobile suit pilot aboard this ship. I will not allow you to kill him with this test."

Barbosa stared furiously at Lee. "Very well, captain," he said guardedly. "Then we'll resume this test at a later date."

The Colonel turned and stalked out of the room. Peterson rushed after him— Alison took the opportunity to run through the tangle of cables and pull Jack out of the simulator. Lee took a step after her.

"Get the doctor," he ordered over his shoulder to the technicians. He picked his way through the cables and knelt down next to Alison, as she struggled to get Jack upright.

"They…they used…it…" Jack sputtered, coughing up blood. "Why…why did they…"

"I'm sorry, Jack," Alison whispered painfully, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let them."

"Major," Lee said, pulling Jack's left arm over his shoulder, "he needs medical attention to get his vitals back to normal."

"Th-they used it on me…" Jack murmured, coughing again, as Alison and Lee pulled him to his feet. Lee looked up as the doctor and a pair of assistants filed into the room, heading towards Jack. They handed him over, and Alison followed them out, tears in her eyes.

Lee, left behind, got back to his feet, staring back at the simulator; the blood and the sweat left on the metal panels. Jack's screams rang in his ears, as did Barbosa's words.

"'They can be replaced,'" he repeated.

"I'm sorry, sir?" one of the technicians.

Lee picked his way out of the cables. "Nothing," he said. "Shut this system down and never use it again."

"But sir— " the technician began to protest.

"That's an order," Lee snapped.

He stormed out of the room.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Onogoro Island, United Emirates of Orb**

In the back of his mind, Jona questioned the wisdom of sending Captain Todaka to fight the Orb Raiders. The man certainly had credentials— during the Earth Alliance invasion in CE 71, it had been Todaka's ship, battered and cratered and spewing smoke, that had put up the fiercest resistance against three _Danilov_-class destroyers when they tried to move in towards an errant Orb ship full of refugees, giving the civilians time to escape. Afterwards, from his smoldering vessel, he guided a small fleet of civilian ships, brimming with refugees, across the oceans and back to Orb. Who could argue with that?

But there was also no denying that he was also more loyal to the Athhas than the Seirans— and the last remaining Athha of importance was the very person Todaka was being sent to fight.

_Well,_ he reasoned, _he can either be a servant of his country, or a traitor._

Jona crossed his arms, gazing out from the control terminal over the tableau of Todaka's fleet. Five _Aegis_-class battleships and seven _Kuraokami_-class cruisers, all loaded down with Murasames and M1 Astrays, were waiting to launch. The _Megami_ had managed to destroy four _Aegis_ battleships, but it had come away badly damaged. Now, intelligence put it in the Leyte Gulf of the Philippines, repairing all that damage. Even to a man as relatively unversed in military strategy as Jona, this was the obvious chance to finish them off. They were stuck in one place as they repaired the damage; they were on the defensive; nothing could stop Orb from bringing down its forces to crush the rogue princess's knights once and for all.

But, of course, there was a problem.

"Captain," Jona said, to the image of the wary man in the crisp white and blue Orb uniform on the screen, "although your objective is straightforward, there are…complications."

"There are?" Todaka asked. Jona suppressed a smile as he detected Todaka's forced naiveté.

"The Atlantic Federation has sent a ship after the _Megami_," Jona explained, "and the Equatorial Union has dispatched a fleet as well." He smiled pithily. "So you'd best hurry if you want in on the action."

"But sir," Todaka protested, "what should we do if we encounter the Atlantic Federation ship or the Equatorial fleet?"

Jona shrugged. "Everyone wants to destroy that ship," he said. "Your job is simply to capture the princess and return her." He gave another smile. "That _is_ why we've got a battalion of marines aboard your flagship, is it not?"

"Yes sir," Todaka said, a hint of defeat in his voice. "I just want to confirm the parameters of this mission, so we don't accidentally spark an international incident of some kind."

Another shrug from the smiling emir. "Look before you shoot," he said. "I look forward to seeing our princess safe and sound."

Todaka saluted, and the screen went dark, as his fleet set sail.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

With another patrol behind him, Athrun Zala let out a sigh as he guided the Justice Gundam towards the _Megami_. They would be here for a couple of weeks at least— although the damage was being repaired quickly, that suicide squeeze against the Orb fleet had been costly. And they still had to worry about that _Archangel_-class— as well as the odd stirrings of what looked like a surface fleet passing through the nearby Surigao Strait. At this point, it could be anything— a bunch of fishing boats, a training exercise, a ceremony of some kind…but that didn't take the edge off Athrun's nervousness.

The Justice banked down towards the _Megami_'s open starboard hangar, slowly coming to a halt on the deck. A moment later, a Murasame went rocketing out of the center catapult to take Athrun's place in the patrols. Athrun watched it sail into the orange twilight sky as he parked the Justice in its usual hangar brace and opened the cockpit hatch.

As he climbed out of the cockpit and pulled his helmet off, he glanced over at the machine next to his, the Strike Rouge. His eyes fell upon the lion symbol on its shoulder, the emblem of the Athha family. All of the Orb Raiders' mobile suits carried this emblem, but it was the sigil of the Athha family— it was Cagalli's emblem to bear.

But with that emblem came the burden of carrying on her father's policies, her father's dreams, her father's nation. Athrun believed in Cagalli's cause, but he tempered it with realism— not acknowledging the facts before you could be dangerous. And that realism told him that if Cagalli was truly going to maintain Orb's armed neutrality and trading rights without the nations of the former and probably future Earth Alliance coming back for another invasion, she would have to be one damned good negotiator. And Athrun knew that Cagalli was no savvy politician, able to disarm the ferocious eagle of the Atlantic Federation without firing a shot and make weapons of words. That was the forte of Jona Roma Seiran, not Cagalli Yula Athha.

Cagalli herself climbed out of the Strike Rouge's cockpit, much to Athrun's surprise, and one of the mechanics waved to her from the hangar floor. She gestured back and glanced up in surprise herself at Athrun.

"You're still here?" she asked, taking a step towards him. Athrun shrugged, leaning against the rail.

"I don't have anything else to do," he said, "and my shift on patrol is over." He blinked at her grease-smudged red shirt and green cargo pants. "You're fixing the Strike Rouge?"

"Yeah," she answered, sounding frustrated— Athrun did not have to guess that something was not going right. "The mechanics know the inner workings of that thing better than I do, though, and they're too busy putting the ship back together. So I've been trying to figure it out myself." She glanced back distastefully at the silent Rouge. "I think I see why they needed a Coordinator to put that thing together now."

Athrun smiled dimly; Kira Yamato had been no mere Coordinator. "Even we find these things baffling sometimes," he chuckled. "Especially since they told us in training to just think of them as big tanks on legs and let the mechanics puzzle the insides out." He got up off the railing. "I can help you if you want."

Cagalli looked back over at him. "I guess," she said, turning and heading back into the cockpit. Athrun squeezed himself in next to her, settling as best he could into the cockpit seat— and realizing that Cagalli had adjusted it for her own height, which was not quite the same as Athrun's.

"It shouldn't be too different from the Aegis," he said, as the familiar OS startup screen appeared on the main display. "This is just a Strike made out of spare parts, after all."

"As long as you don't try Mwu's method of fixing it," Cagalli grumbled. "I've been cursing at it for half an hour and it didn't do anything." She shook her head. "I can't believe we got into this mess."

Athrun glanced up at her guardedly, not wanting to be the one to say, "I told you so."

"We should have never tried to go to Orb and fight through that fleet," she said, scowling bitterly. "How could I have been so stupid…?"

"You can't see the future," Athrun said, looking back down at the screen. "All you can do is act on what you know from the past, and hope the future turns out the way you want it to." He shrugged as he set to work recalibrating the OS. "It's not like I had planned beforehand to defect to Orb during the war. And it's not like I knew that it would work out the way it did."

"But I'm supposed to be in charge here," Cagalli protested. "Everything I do affects everyone who follows me."

Athrun shrugged again— that was true. "But," he answered, "we're still willing to follow you."

He looked up at her, and offered a thin smile. Cagalli sighed quietly, and Athrun went back to work.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Equatorial Union _Spengler_-class aircraft carrier _Sukarno_, Surigao Strait, the Philippines**

Admiral Tapang crossed his arms as he studied the map. On the adjacent screen, Ian Lee sat waiting in the captain's chair of his ship, the _Mephistopheles_. Tapang noted that there was another man, in a black uniform, standing next to the captain, looking annoyed…and, Tapang added mentally, he wore the markings of an Atlantic Federation colonel.

"The enemy is a smart one," Tapang said at last. "Satellite passes and Intel flights say they've wedged themselves into the sand at such an angle as to allow themselves full access to their guns, and a full field of fire against any attackers from the sea." The admiral pointed at the map. "They're not far from the former town of Palo. They'll be a perfect target, if we move properly, but they'll be far from helpless as well."

"We'll take the front position," the colonel said dismissively. "The _Mephistopheles_ is far more maneuverable than your ships, Admiral."

Tapang narrowed his eyes. "My men will not sit on the sidelines, colonel," he said. "We've also received word of a fleet launching from the United Emirates of Orb. Intel believes that this ship is their target— the situation is becoming more snarled as the hours wear on."

Lee glanced angrily at the colonel. "Admiral," he said, "I must second the colonel's idea. Our ship is better designed to take on such a vessel as theirs, even if theirs cannot move. And we will need your fleet to provide support. We should get this operation concluded before the Orb fleet arrives."

"Agreed," Tapang said with a nod. "Very well, captain. My fleet will take up position around Palo to cut them off should they try to escape. And we will leave the ship itself to you." He paused. "My men are armed only with Strike Daggers and a few Dagger Ls, so I do not know of what help my mobile suit force will be."

"It will be help enough," Lee assured him. "As long as you can provide fire support and keep the enemy forces penned in, we will be able to finish them off."

The colonel flashed a feral grin. "We have a special weapon," he said, "that will make minced meat of them. Don't interfere."

The screen went dark. Tapang shook his head— Captain Lee was agreeable enough, but this new officer looming over his shoulder…that was a different story.

"Captain," Tapang spoke up. The _Sukarno_'s captain turned. "Set course for Palo, flank speed. We have a rebellion to crush."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 29th, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Leyte Gulf**

The Dark Dagger L slowly came to life, the Jet Striker pack locking into place on its back, bazooka in hand. Inside the cockpit, Rico Barbosa glanced over at the shadowed form of the Diablo Gundam. The Extended, Jack O'Hara, was standing on the gantry in front of it, with Alison and Peterson speaking to him.

Barbosa scowled, thinking back to the demonstration, and how everyone had leapt in his way. Something strange was going on here— there was too much emotion over a single Extended. High Command would be annoyed, but Barbosa supposed that this was one of the problems of using Extended— some people who didn't know any better got too attached to them. And it was always a mistake to get attached to anything during war.

Barbosa glanced across the hangar, at his three accompanying Dark Dagger Ls. They were the best the Special Forces could currently spare, but they would be good enough— after all, no pilot made it into the Special Forces without having some skill of their own.

"Carlos, Oliver, Kingston," he said. The faces of three grizzled, bronzed Special Forces veterans appeared on his screen. "Remember what I said about the Extended. We're going to have a full report for High Command, whether the caretaker likes it or not."

The three men nodded, their screens going dark. Barbosa looked back at the Diablo, as Jack climbed inside and shut the cockpit.

"Simulators are one thing," he said, "but a real battle…that's where the fun _really_ begins."

The Dark Dagger positioned itself on the starboard catapult of the _Mephistopheles_.

"Barbosa unit, moving out!"

The catapult fired, and Barbosa grinned as the Dagger went rocketing into the pink morning sky.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

"Shit, shit, _shit,_ get moving, guys!" Dearka screamed as he raced down the hallways, two Murasame pilots and Yzak in tow. "There's a whole fucking fleet bearing down on us!"

Poking her head out of her room, Milly rubbed sleep out of her eyes and stared blinkingly at Dearka. "There's what?"

"A fleet!" Dearka cried, pausing just long enough to grab her by the shoulders. "Fifteen surface ships, plus that _Archangel_-class that was bugging us earlier!"

"A _fleet?!_" Milly echoed in disbelief. "What— how did they— "

"That doesn't matter!" Yzak snapped. "Go to the bridge! Dearka, come on!"

The two pilots took off down the hallway. Milly rubbed her eyes again, before seizing her uniform and running out into the corridor, heading for the bridge.

——————————————————————————————————————————

To be continued…


	7. Phase 07: Children at the Cannons

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

——————————————————————————————————————————

Phase 07 - Children at the Cannons

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**June 29th, CE 73 - Palo, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

Up ahead, arrayed like the warships that had fought there centuries before, were fifteen surface vessels— by Athrun's count, there were three _Spengler_-class carriers, eight _Danilov_-class destroyers, and four _Fraser_-class frigates. At least a hundred Strike Daggers stood on the decks of the ships or waded through the surf towards the shore, where the _Megami_ laid waiting, guns deployed. Above the formidable fleet was the intimidating black _Mephistopheles_ and a wing of mobile suits coming from both the fleet and the _Mephistopheles_.

"Dammit," Athrun heard Yzak mutter. "Now we're really fucked. We can't even move!"

The Justice Gundam hovered up over the _Megami_, beam rifle drawn. Athrun glanced over at the Aile Strike Rouge, armed with a bazooka and staring ahead grimly.

"Most of those are Strike Daggers," Andy said, as the Aegis set down on the shore, "so if you guys stand your ground and the Murasames handle themselves well in the air, we can pick them off from above." The Aegis's eyes flashed pointedly. "It's not hopeless."

On the other side of the _Megami_, the Buster flamboyantly combined its guns, pointing the high-energy launcher at the oncoming mobile suits. "Well, they'll be sorry they dragged me out of bed!" Dearka shouted.

Across the gulf, aboard the _Sukarno_, Tapang watched his foes carefully as they lined up their defenses. He had only eight Jet Dagger Ls, four Doppelhorn Dagger Ls, and a hundred Strike Daggers, plus his fifteen warships and his squadrons of Spearhead fighters. He would have to rely on the _Mephistopheles_ to hold off those "Gundam" machines.

"Admiral," Lee's voice said, "we're in position."

Tapang nodded grimly. "Then let's begin," he said. He brought his hands down hard on the console in front of him. "All units, _attack!_"

——————————————————————————————————————————

The beams lanced out from the Strike Daggers as they marched up the shore, rising out of the water and opening fire. Yzak cursed under his breath, taking cover behind his shield. The Daggers were using the water as a shield, knowing that the returning beam fire would be weakened if it missed, and knowing that they presented a smaller target with only part of the torso above water. He passed the crosshairs for his missile launcher over his foes, opening fire— the missiles streaked out and plunged down into their prey, knocking three Daggers back into the surf.

"The bastards are just hiding in the water!" Yzak snapped, firing his beam rifle into the water. A cloud of steam rose up around the Daggers. "Shit!"

Missiles from the Dagger Ls came down around the Duel, forcing it back a step. Yzak looked up— an instant later, one of the Dagger Ls went staggering back under a withering machinegun barrage, and the Justice Gundam lunged in close to deliver a punishing kick to its torso.

"Let us handle the aerial enemies!" Athrun shouted. "Murasame teams, switch to missiles and attack the Strike Daggers! The rest of us will handle the fliers!"

Yzak scowled. Damned Zala was always showing off.

The Strike Daggers stamped up the beach, beam rifles drawn. Yzak smirked— this he could handle. The Daggers opened fire— Yzak ducked aside, firing back and picking two Daggers off with two consecutive shots to the torsos. Another Dagger pulled itself up from the surf— Yzak squeezed off another shot that blew off its head, sending it toppling back into the water.

A railgun shell came streaking in from nowhere— Yzak sidestepped, letting it slam into the sand behind him, throwing a billowing cloud of dust up into the air. Yzak looked back in surprise, as he caught sight of a Duel Dagger leaping from the deck of one of the _Spengler_ carriers, sailing through the air, beam rifle drawn.

"Where the hell did _he_ come from?!" Yzak snarled, opening fire with his CIWS guns as the Duel Dagger sent a storm of missiles down towards the Duel. The Duel Dagger landed with a crash, throwing a cloud of sand up into the air, and fired back with its shoulder cannon— the Duel dove to the side, defending itself with its shield. The Dagger traced the Duel's path with beam rifle fire— Yzak ground to a halt in the sand and deflected the shots with his shield, returning fire, but the Dagger deftly leapt aside.

"Dammit!" Yzak shouted. "How can it move so fast with that Fortrestra armor?!"

The Duel Dagger squeezed off a returning beam rifle blast, sending a green beam pulsing by inches from the Duel's head. Yzak answered with a railgun shell, but the Dagger easily sidestepped, letting the shell sail past, and fired again with its beam rifle, nearly taking off the Duel's right leg.

More beams came lancing towards the Duel from the advancing Strike Daggers. Nearby, the _Megami_'s CIWS guns opened fire on the Strike Daggers, pummeling them back towards the water and sending one splashing back into the surf, riddled with bullet holes. Yzak leapt up into the air, the Duel groaning in protest, and shot down another Strike Dagger as he somersaulted over the Duel Dagger's cannon blast. Coming back down with a crash, Yzak holstered his rifle and charged with a drawn beam saber.

"I have the advantage here!" Yzak cried. "_Here I come!_"

The Dagger switched to its own beam saber, blocking Yzak's saber with a crash.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Beams sizzled by the Justice as Athrun battled off three Jet Dagger Ls. Their missiles streaked around the Justice, but Athrun paid them no mind, focusing on the mobile suits. One of the missiles veered up towards the Justice's torso— Athrun jetted backward suddenly, and the missile sailed by, directly into one of the Daggers, blowing it out of the sky with a flash. Athrun jetted backward again, dodging beams from the remaining two Daggers.

Missiles from the _Megami_ came streaking up into the air, knocking out the second Dagger. Athrun somersaulted over the dying Dagger's smoldering form, taking off after the remaining Dagger and opening fire with his beam rifle. The Dagger dodged his shots and skirted aside, taking cover behind its shield. Athrun turned to follow, but his instincts cast his eyes to the left, and with a crash that rattled the Justice's cockpit, another mobile suit entered the fray.

Athrun looked up angrily at the cold metal face of the Diablo Gundam.

"You again," he grunted, pushing the Diablo back and firing his beam cannons. As the Diablo took cover, Athrun charged with his beam saber drawn, and before the Diablo could react, he sliced its rifle in two.

Inside the Diablo, Jack scowled viciously. "Damn you!" he screamed. The Diablo charged with its own saber drawn, and the two machines slammed together, sabers locked. Athrun kicked the Diablo in the stomach, forcing it back, and showered it with machinegun fire— but the Diablo charged forward anyway, bringing its saber down again, and Athrun barely managed to block the blow with his shield.

"Is this guy really a Coordinator or what?!" Athrun grunted. "These reflexes are too fast!"

The Diablo surged forward, throwing the Justice back and showering it with CIWS fire. Athrun returned fire with his beam cannons, but the Diablo batted the shots aside with its shield and charged forward, undeterred.

"You aren't so bad now, are you?!" Jack cackled, bringing his saber down with a crash again. "Come on, bastard; let's see what you've got!"

Athrun glanced over his shoulder, finding the remaining Dagger L sweeping in from behind, beam carbine leveled off for a killing blow. Up ahead, the Diablo opened fire with its own beam cannons— Athrun seized the chance and somersaulted over the shots, letting them plow into the Dagger and blow it apart in a flash of fire.

"What the— ?!" Jack screamed. "Goddamn you!'

Athrun narrowed his eyes, charging down at the Diablo and slamming his own saber down onto its shield. Jack ground his teeth.

"You're not that good!" he cried. "I'll take you down!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

Andy cast a withering glare at the approaching squadron of black Jet Dagger Ls. What were they? They opened fire with bazookas— Andy somersaulted over the shots and returned fire with his beam rifle, deciding that he could worry about what they were later.

Inside the leading Dagger, Rico Barbosa grinned at his foe, dodging its return fire with practiced ease.

"Colonel," Carlos's voice spoke up from the Dagger's console. Barbosa glanced down at it. "Look at the marking on the shoulder. I think it's the Desert Tiger."

Barbosa magnified the emblem on the Aegis's left shoulder, finding a stylized tiger printed on the armor. "I'll be damned, it _is_ the Tiger," Barbosa laughed. "Well, that just makes it even sweeter!" He squeezed off another bazooka shell at the dodging Aegis. "He handed the Eurasians their asses at El Alamein! So let's return the favor!"

Andy cursed as the four Daggers trained their bazookas on him, taking off over their heads. "Four against one is hardly fair," he grunted. "Why don't you guys fight like men!?" The Aegis dropped down suddenly over the Daggers, igniting both beam sabers on its feet and the saber on its left arm. With a harrowing shriek of torn metal, the Aegis took out two of the Daggers' bazookas, throwing them back to avoid any further damage.

Barbosa smirked in amusement as he watched Carlos and Kingston toss their ruined bazookas away and draw their beam carbines. The Aegis whirled around, spraying the four Daggers with beam shots— the four Daggers broke ranks and dodged, deflecting shots with their shields. "Oliver!" Barbosa ordered. "Get behind him and put a shell in his back! We'll pick him off from there!"

"Roger," Oliver answered, his Dagger taking off into the air over the Aegis's head. Andy trained his beam rifle on it, but immediately took cover as the remaining Daggers opened fire. He focused his attention on the second Dagger with the bazooka, watching it hang back— what was it waiting for?

The alarms went off as Oliver's Dagger fired a bazooka shot towards the Aegis's back. Andy smirked— if these guys were Special Forces pilots, their tactics were obvious. He somersaulted over the shell, slicing Oliver's bazooka in two as he did so, and only a timely duck saved the Dagger from further damage. As Andy righted himself in midair, he fired a CIWS burst that picked the bazooka out of Barbosa's Dagger's hand.

Barbosa cursed as his bazooka went sailing towards the sea. "He deserves his reputation, I'll give him that," he snarled. "Switch to beam carbines and take his ass down!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

"Where the hell did _that_ thing come from?!" Dearka snapped.

He ducked in surprise as a railgun shell soared over the Buster Gundam's head, plowing into the ground behind him and sending him staggering forward. He looked up angrily, to find a Buster Dagger rising fearsomely out of the surf, armor glistening, gunlauncher deployed.

"Oh, real cute," Dearka growled. "I can do that too, asshole!"

To punctuate his point, Dearka took a step back to brace himself, leveling off his high-energy rifle. The Buster Dagger leapt up into the air, firing a salvo of missiles; Dearka snapped the high-energy rifle up and fired, wiping out the missiles and nearly clipping the Dagger. The Dagger came down with a crash and squeezed off a beam shot of its own; Dearka threw the Buster Gundam aside and fired a shot of his own, but the Buster Dagger effortlessly somersaulted over it, and when it came down, it had a beam saber in its left hand.

"Shit," Dearka grunted, as the Buster scrambled to its feet. He glanced over his shoulder, at the _Megami_, guns blazing, and drew the Buster Gundam's own beam saber from its hidden rack on the machine's backpack, silently thanking Murdoch for having the foresight to stash one on the Buster's frame. "Well, two to tango, pal! Come and get me!"

The Dagger rose to the challenge, charging and firing another beam shot. Dearka threw himself towards the blast, batting it aside with his beam saber— and thanking whoever had discovered that beam sabers could do that— to stop the Dagger's saber with his own, digging the Buster's feet into the sand.

The Dagger pushed off the Buster, sending it staggering back, and backflipped into the air, squeezing off a gunlauncher shot that slammed into the Buster's torso. Dearka snarled a curse as smoke billowed up around the Buster, but he hacked through it and fired back with a salvo of missiles. The Dagger desperately gunned them down with another beam shot, but an instant later Dearka was back on his foe with his beam saber.

"Ha!" he shouted. "Phase Shift, bitch!" The Buster kicked the Dagger's left leg out from under it, but the Dagger barely managed to dodge Dearka's killing saber stab, rolling out of harm's way and retreating to the relative safety of distance.

Dearka smirked as the Dagger came charging back towards him, saber drawn back.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Biting back a curse, Mwu took cover behind his shield as a volley of beam blasts from a pair of Strike Daggers pounded against it. He cast a wary glance to his right, watching Cagalli's Strike Rouge fire off a bazooka shell that erupted into a blaze as a Dagger cut it down with a CIWS burst.

"There's too many of these damn things!" Cagalli shouted. "_Megami_, what about the Gottfrieds?!"

"We don't have a clear line of fire at the mobile suits!" Milly answered.

"Well, what about the ships?! Can't you attack those and distract the mobile suits?!" Cagalli shot back, as the Rouge was pummeled by another salvo of beams.

"It's best not to piss them off and pull them into the fight if we don't have to," Mwu said, pausing just long enough to fire a beam rifle blast, catching a Strike Dagger in the torso and blowing it apart. "The CIWS guns will do anyways."

"The enemy _Archangel_-class is approaching!" Sai exclaimed. "Captain— "

"Divert all energy to the weapons and laminate armor systems!" Murrue interrupted. "We can't move, so we'll have to stop his missiles and hope we can absorb his beam shots!"

"If he tries to use his Lohengrins, it's all over!" Mwu warned. "Cagalli! I'll leave these guys to you!"

"Wait— " Cagalli began. Mwu took off, angling up towards the _Mephistopheles_ and spiraling gracefully past three beam shots from three distracted Strike Daggers. Cagalli took the opportunity to blow them away with her bazooka, and cursed as the Aile Strike Gundam roared up into the air. "_Megami_, send a Murasame or two down here to take Commander La Fllaga's place!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_**

"Mobile suit approaching!" Eric exclaimed out of the CIC. "Captain, it looks like the -X105 Strike!"

In the captain's chair, Lee narrowed his eyes. "Bring in two Dagger Ls to hold him off," he ordered. "We're going to sink that ship once and for all! Flank speed, all guns at the ready!"

The _Mephistopheles_ slowly arced down towards the _Megami_, waiting in the sand, CIWS guns blazing at Tapang's advancing battalion of Strike Daggers.

"Gottfrieds!" Lee roared. "_Fire!_"

The _Mephistopheles_ opened fire on the _Megami_, showering it with four pulsing columns of beam fire. The shots pounded against the _Megami_'s armor, but Lee narrowed his eyes angrily, noticing only steam rising off the armor.

"Captain!" Ronald cried from the weapons station. "Our shots didn't do anything! Adjust output?"

"They must be diverting power to their laminated armor," Lee growled. "Dammit, what _can't_ this ship do!? Missile tubes, load Sledgehammers! Valiants, activate, all fire on my mark!"

Down below, in the _Megami_'s bridge, Murrue squinted through the darkened bridge at the dimmed displays. So much power had been diverted that the machinery on the bridge could only operate on auxiliary power supplies— but as long as the laminate armor held out against the _Mephistopheles_' attacks, then they had a fighting chance.

"Are the Gottfrieds ready?" she asked. Romero nodded grimly. "Good. Target the enemy ship and fire on my mark."

Up above, Lee cast a grave glance at the Strike Gundam as it fought off two Jet Dagger Ls. It wouldn't stay distracted for long— they would have to hurry this up.

"Sledgehammers and Valiants ready, sir!" Ronald reported.

"Enemy warship is targeting us with its Gottfried cannons!" David shouted of the CIC.

Lee looked back down at the _Megami_, as its guns angled up towards his ship. "Evasive maneuvers!" he ordered. "Fire the Sledgehammers now!"

As the _Megami_ opened fire, the _Mephistopheles_ veered aside, and a volley of anti-ship missiles came streaking out of the _Mephistopheles_' stern section. The _Megami_'s withering CIWS fire momentarily turned upwards, cutting the missiles out of the sky.

"Align the ship and fire the Valiants!" Lee shouted.

In the _Megami_, Murrue watched the ship overhead carefully.

"They've deployed their Valiant cannons!" Sai exclaimed.

"We can't stand up to railgun shells," Murrue said, glaring at her foe overhead. "Romero, fire at will! Keep them on the defensive!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Equatorial Union _Spengler_-class aircraft carrier _Sukarno_**

Tapang watched with crossed arms as the _Mephistopheles_ twisted through the air to dodge the _Megami_'s desperate beam cannon blasts. He did have to admit that they weren't going to go down without a fight.

"Admiral," the captain said, "the fleet is in position and ready to move forward."

Tapang watched the battlefield carefully for a moment. "Move the _Bangkok_, _Hanoi_, and _Manila_ forward and have them begin shelling the coast. Keep the rest of our _Danilov_ destroyers back with the carriers."

The order went out, and a few moments later, Tapang watched the three warships edge forward in the water. He glanced up at the shore, at his advancing Strike Daggers, and found them being held off by only three Gundams.

"These Gundams of theirs are formidable indeed," he commented. "Order the destroyers to target those mobile suits first."

——————————————————————————————————————————

"_Hold still!_" Jack shrieked, as the Diablo roared in after the Justice. Athrun narrowed his eyes at the charging Diablo, beam saber in hand, and brought it down as his foe came shrieking in close. Jack plowed through the blow with his shield, throwing the Justice back. "_Damn you! You're not going to beat me!_"

"This guy is insane!" Athrun grunted, firing the Justice's booster and rocketing over the Diablo's head. The Diablo came tearing up through the sky after him— Athrun jetted backwards, hurling both of his beam boomerangs, but the Diablo swatted them aside with its shield, returning fire with its beam cannons. Athrun ducked the searing blasts and went plummeting down towards the ocean.

"_Come back here!_" Jack screamed, dropping down after the Justice. Athrun narrowed his eyes, firing the booster and halting his descent. Jack's eyes widened in surprise, but before he could react, the Justice rammed its knee up into the Diablo's stomach, jarring it out of its free-fall, and with a crash that rattled the Diablo's cockpit, Athrun kicked the Diablo down towards the ocean.

Jack's eyes flashed furiously as the Diablo fell. He fired the booster, skimming backward along the ocean's surface, as Athrun leveled off his own beam cannons and opened fire. The shots plowed harmlessly into the water— Athrun snarled a curse and took off after the retreating Diablo. Jack flung both of his beam boomerangs towards his charging foe, but Athrun dodged them expertly and brought his saber down with a crash on the Diablo's shield.

The Diablo surged forward again with a blast of exhaust from its backpack, and Jack drove his own saber forward with a scream. Athrun desperately parried the blow, leaving the two Gundams locked together, glowering into each other's blazing green eyes. Athrun narrowed his eyes at his persistent foe— he'd have to fall sometime.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Missiles came down around the Duel Gundam as Yzak took a cautionary step back, beam shots pelting his shield. The Duel Dagger still stood before him, beam saber drawn, but a squad of Strike Daggers was tramping up behind it, beam rifles raised, glowering at the Duel Gundam murderously. If he went for any one of them, the others would tear him apart.

"Milly!" he shouted suddenly. "Turn the CIWS on the Daggers!"

On the screen, Milly blinked in surprise. "Wha— I don't have any control over those!"

"Well, tell someone else to do it, then!" A shell from the Duel Dagger slammed against Yzak's shield— he took another step back, bracing himself on his left leg. "Hurry it up!"

Milly said something that Yzak couldn't hear, and a moment later a hurricane of bullets came tearing across the battlefield over the Duel's shoulders. Yzak threw the Duel forward, laying it prone on the beach and drawing his own rifle. The Strike Daggers staggered back, while the Duel Dagger let the bullets bounce harmlessly off its Fortrestra armor, plowing forward determinedly. Yzak seized his chance to pick off two of the Daggers with his beam rifle, as the CIWS guns punched the other three back into the surf. The Duel Dagger charged, beam saber raised.

"No you don't!" Yzak shouted, firing his railgun at the sand in front of the charging Dagger. A titanic cloud of sand and dust billowed up from the around the blast— the Duel Dagger stopped short.

Screaming, Yzak brought the Duel blasting out of the cloud with its own saber upturned, and before the Dagger could react, stabbed his own saber deep into the Dagger's torso. The Dagger slumped backward— Yzak forced it back into the water with a thunderous kick to the torso, where it died a fiery death.

Yzak glanced back at the _Megami_, still blasting away into the air and at the Daggers. Another beam shot seized his attention, and he went charging back to war.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_**

"The enemy ship is coming around!" Sai reported. "Valiants are still deployed!"

Murrue glared up at the black-painted foe soaring over her head. Without any kind of mobility, the most they could do was throw as much firepower as possible into the air and hope that the _Mephistopheles_' crew wasn't good enough to compensate.

"I've got the Gottfrieds synced!" Romero added.

"That should buy us a little time," Murrue said, "but we need to knock that thing out of the air." She glanced back up at the _Mephistopheles_. "If they decide to just take a few hits on one of their passes, we're doomed. Load up the Valiants."

"But captain, they're blocked by the sand!" Romero protested.

"Missiles incoming!" Chandra interrupted. Murrue looked back sharply at the skies, as the CIWS fired again, cutting down the Sledgehammers streaking from the sky.

In the _Mephistopheles_, Lee scowled down at his immobile but still fierce foe.

"Captain, they've synchronized their Gottfrieds," Murphy reported from the CIC.

"Our laminate armor can't withstand a direct hit from one of those things," Lee muttered. "And I don't want to get bogged down repairing damage like they are." He glanced over at Ronald, the weapons officer. "Ronald, prepare to fire the Valiants on the next pass! We can't keep dodging them forever!"

The _Mephistopheles_ swung around through the air, Valiants at the ready, and came roaring in from behind the _Megami_. Aboard the grounded ship, Murrue's eyes narrowed darkly at the incoming enemy.

"Captain, they're coming in too fast!" Chandra exclaimed. The _Mephistopheles_ tilted to the side, dodging another Gottfried blast.

"All engines, activate!" Murrue shouted.

The _Megami_ rumbled as the engines sputtered to life; the _Mephistopheles_ fired its Valiants with a roar, but the _Megami_ edged forward in the sand, and the shells pounded into the ground harmlessly.

"Dammit!" Lee growled. "Come around for another pass and we'll try again!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

Barbosa's Dagger slammed its saber down onto the Aegis's shield. Inside, Barbosa grinned like an animal, eyes wide.

"Oliver, Carlos, get around him!" he shouted. Oliver and Carlos sent their Daggers into a tailspin, beam carbines leveled, but the Aegis somersaulted over Barbosa's head before they could fire. "Dammit!"

Andy whirled around, firing a token beam blast that sent the two Daggers jetting apart. "You guys are kind of disappointing!" he chuckled. "Are you Special Forces or what?!"

The Daggers took off after the Aegis as it climbed into the air. Andy smirked and transformed his Gundam, coming streaking back down with his beam sabers active. The Daggers jetted apart, but not before Andy managed to slice off the left arm of Kingston's Dagger L.

"Kingston, go back to the ship!" Barbosa barked. "You're no good without a shield!"

Kingston's smoking Dagger pulled back with a beam carbine shot, as Carlos and Oliver charged and Barbosa squeezed off two more blasts to cover them. Andy transformed the Aegis again, batting the shots aside with his shield and fending off both Daggers with beam saber-assisted kicks. Carlos's beam carbine went sailing away in pieces— he seized a Stiletto from his Dagger's hip armor and hurled it at the Aegis.

"You'll have to do better than that!" Andy laughed, throwing the Aegis back and letting the Stiletto soar over its head. Oliver's Dagger leapt into view, beam carbine leveled off— Andy let fly a vicious CIWS burst that picked the carbine out of the Dagger's hands. Oliver angrily flung the sparking weapon at the Aegis, but Andy swatted the carbine out of the sky with his shield and fired back with his beam rifle.

"This guy's unreal!" Carlos protested. "Colonel— "

"I'll handle this motherfucker!" Barbosa barked, opening fire with his own carbine. "You two pull back and get some weapons!"

Carlos and Oliver vanished into the fray as Barbosa soared forward, beam carbine blazing. Andy grinned back, deflecting Barbosa's shots and charging. "Just you and me, pal!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

Another anti-air missile nearly blew the beam rifle out of the Strike Gundam's hand, but Mwu kept going, picking it out of the air with a CIWS burst and returning the angry fire of two Jet Dagger Ls. The first launched a bevy of its own missiles— Mwu narrowed his eyes.

"You'll have to do better than that!" he shot back, somersaulting over the horde of missiles and blowing them apart with another CIWS burst. He went streaking up into the sky, letting the Daggers follow, and arced down lazily towards the _Mephistopheles_.

Mwu cocked an eyebrow as he noticed the _Mephistopheles_ moving up over the _Megami_, weaving around Gottfried blasts from the grounded ship. The _Megami_ had managed to nudge itself forward with a short-lived burst of engine power, dodging some kind of attack. Mwu grinned— time to return the favor.

Cutting the thrusters, he went sailing down towards the _Mephistopheles_. The Daggers followed, switching to beam sabers so as not to damage the ship with stray blasts. The _Mephistopheles_ turned one of its Gottfrieds towards the Strike and fired— Mwu laughed and ducked aside, letting the blast blow one of the Daggers out of the sky.

"Nice shot, assholes!" he cried, firing through the smoke and picking off the second Dagger before it could react. "You're doing my work for me!"

Missiles and CIWS rounds from the _Mephistopheles_ lanced up in answer as the ship slowly arced around for another pass at the _Megami_. The Strike took after the ship, dodging missiles and letting CIWS rounds ricochet off its Phase Shift armor.

——————————————————————————————————————————

A pulsing yellow beam nearly took the Buster's head off as Dearka ducked underneath his opponent's blast. The Buster Dagger fired its hyper impulse cannon again, but again, Dearka dove aside, sliding out of harm's way. The Dagger switched instantly to its gunlauncher, firing a molten spray of red-hot shrapnel at the Buster, but the glowing pellets bounced harmlessly off the Buster's Phase Shift armor.

"Don't make me laugh!" Dearka shot back, returning fire with a storm of missiles. The Buster Dagger somersaulted over them, rifles drawn, and pounded another gunlauncher shot down onto the Buster. The Gundam fell to one knee under the attack— Dearka glared up at the Dagger as gravity reclaimed it and it began to fall.

"Gotcha!" he shouted— the Buster squeezed off a shot from its high energy rifle, and with a blood-curdling shriek of shredded metal, the Dagger's right arm and its own high energy rifle vanished in a blaze. The Dagger landed with a crash on its knees— and an instant later, Dearka leveled off his rifle and fired. The Dagger went up in a cloud of smoke and vanished within a thundering explosion.

Dearka smiled with satisfaction and turned towards the sea, where another squad of Strike Daggers was marching up towards him.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Jack's eyes blazed as he felt the familiar, terrible feeling of the Psyco System rushing through him. The world turned red as he felt his consciousness narrow down to the enemy in front of him— the Diablo leapt through the air with the grace of an acrobat as the machine's cooling fins sprung open. The Diablo raged forward toward the Justice, beam saber drawn— Athrun fired his beam cannons, but the Diablo expertly slalomed between the shots and sent the Justice staggering back with a rattling blow.

The sun vanished for a moment— Athrun looked up in surprise as the Justice reeled, and found the Diablo pitching down towards him. He struggled to swing his shield into the Diablo's path in time, but the beam saber came down…

…and landed against another saber. Athrun turned in surprise, Jack in rage, and both blinked in disbelief.

With its saber thrust between the Diablo's saber and the Justice Gundam, the Strike Rouge turned its eyes on the Diablo.

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To be continued…


	8. Phase 08: A Time to Kill

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

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Phase 08 - A Time to Kill

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**June 29th, CE 73 - Palo, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

"Cagalli!" Athrun exclaimed, staring in disbelief at the Strike Rouge as it held the Diablo Gundam back. "Get back! This guy's good!"

"Then let's fight him together!" Cagalli shot back. The Diablo backed away, beam saber raised, and charged again, this time towards the Rouge. Athrun shouldered Cagalli aside to deflect the blow with his shield— the Rouge charged up towards the Diablo and rammed into it with its own shield, throwing it back. "I can fight too!" Cagalli snapped.

Inside the Diablo, Jack snarled furiously, opening fire with his beam cannons. "There's _two_ of them now!" he growled. "Well you'll need more than that!"

The Justice Gundam roared forwards towards the Diablo, saber raised— in the cockpit, Athrun ground his teeth as the two Gundams came together with a crash.

"Cagalli!" Athrun screamed. "Get around him!"

The Strike Rouge took off, arcing around the Justice's side and leveling its bazooka off— the Diablo surged forward, throwing the Justice back and pausing to hurl both of its beam boomerangs at the Rouge, sawing its bazooka in two.

"Dammit!" Cagalli shouted, hurling the bazooka's sparking remains aside. The Diablo charged again, pushing the Justice down towards the ocean— and then, with a roar of engines, it somersaulted off the Justice's shield, catching both of its boomerangs on the rebound, and charged up towards the Strike Rouge.

"Shoot him!" Athrun yelled— the Justice drew its beam rifle and squeezed off a shot up towards the Diablo. The Alliance Gundam spiraled underneath the shot and lunged up into the Rouge's face, bringing its beam saber down with a crash onto the Rouge's shield.

Inside the Diablo, Jack grinned animally. "Are you afraid?!" he cackled. "_Are you afraid?!_" The Diablo kicked the Rouge in the stomach, sending it stumbling back— and with a flash, it hurled both its boomerangs back at the reeling machine.

A pair of beam blasts lanced up into the sky from down below, picking both boomerangs out of the sky. Jack looked down below angrily— and down inside the Justice, Athrun narrowed his dull, lightless eyes.

"Stay away from his front!" Athrun shouted to Cagalli, as the Justice took off, switching to its saber. "I'll handle him up close! Try to shoot him from behind!"

The Justice brought its saber down on the Diablo with a crash, pounding down onto the Diablo's own saber. Athrun clenched his teeth— one way or another, he had to protect Cagalli.

——————————————————————————————————————————

A beam shot went searing by the Duel Gundam's left shoulder— Yzak responded with a rifle shot of his own, driving back the attacking Strike Dagger. As it stumbled back, Yzak followed it up with a railgun shot that blew off the Dagger's head and knocked it dead into the water. Another Dagger leveled its beam rifle off to his left, aiming at the _Megami_'s starboard Gottfried cannon— Yzak squeezed off a shot of his own and blew the Dagger apart before it could fire.

"There's so many of them," he grunted. "Are they sending their whole force or what?"

Another Strike Dagger came storming up the beach, beam rifle blazing. Yzak deflected its shots and fired back from behind his shield, knocking its rifle out of its hand. He moved to follow up—

A thunderous explosion sent the Duel stumbling backward, smoke rising from the ground and the Duel's blackened shield. Yzak growled furiously as he quickly put the Duel back on its feet, looking up ahead. He found three destroyers closer to the shore than the rest of the fleet, and they were shelling the coast.

"Shit!" he shouted. "_Megami_, three of those ships— "

"We see them!" Milly cut him off. "But we can't let up on that _Archangel_ over our heads!"

The Duel leapt aside as another shell pounded into the sand, sending a cloud of dust and smoke billowing up overhead.

"Then I'll do something about it!" Yzak snapped. "Dearka, do you copy?!"

There was a burst of static, and then an annoyed voice. "What the hell do you want?! I'm busy!"

"We're going after those ships!" Yzak shot back. "The Murasames can handle defending the ship!"

Another burst of static answered— Yzak glanced across the beach and saw the Buster reeling from a direct hit to its torso. The Phase Shift emerged blackened but otherwise undamaged, as the Buster balanced itself.

"Easier said than done!" Dearka snapped. He paused to duck under a Strike Dagger's beam shot and blow it away with his gunlauncher. "You go first and I'll cover you!"

Yzak snorted derisively. "Fine, be a pussy," he answered. The Duel vaulted up into the air, showering missiles on the Strike Daggers and taking off over their heads. Dearka fired a high-energy rifle blast into the Daggers after them, cutting down three of them as they were distracted by the Duel.

Yzak eyed the three destroyers up ahead as he dodged their shells, and charged towards them.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The Dark Dagger L shuddered as the Aegis brought a punishing beam saber blow down on its shield. Barbosa narrowed his eyes at his crimson foe as his Dagger rattled. The Desert Tiger was no pushover…but it was no helpless Eurasian tank corps that he was facing, either.

Seizing one of his Stilettos, Barbosa brought it down like a dagger towards the Aegis's shoulder armor, struggling to embed it in the Phase Shift surface. The Aegis shrugged it off and surged forward— Barbosa somersaulted over the Aegis's head, jetting away, but a moment later, the red machine hurled Barbosa's own Stiletto back at him. It exploded in midair, showering the Dagger with shrapnel and forcing it to pull back behind its shield.

"Dammit!" Barbosa growled. The Aegis whirled around, opening fire with its beam rifle— Barbosa ducked aside and released his few remaining missiles, sending them streaking up towards the Aegis. But with practiced ease, his crimson foe darted aside, taking them down with a CIWS burst. "He can't keep this shit up forever!"

Inside the Aegis, Andy grinned and watched the Dagger charge, beam saber drawn and raised. "Only one of you left!" he laughed. The Dagger attacked with its saber, but Andy easily parried the blow with his own, throwing the Aegis back and pelting the Dagger with CIWS shots. Chips of the Dagger's armor went flying as it rocketed out of Andy's line of fire. "Don't go too far, or I'll have to chase you!"

The Dagger charged again— Andy stabbed forward with his saber, forcing the Dagger to stop its own attack in order to block Andy's attack. The Aegis ignited the saber on its right foot and sliced a fearsome gash across the Dagger's torso.

Inside his sparking Dagger, Barbosa cursed and opened fire with his CIWS guns, only to watch the bullets ricochet off the Aegis's armor.

"Goddammit!" he shouted. "Where the hell are Carlos and Oliver?!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_**

Murrue gripped the armrests of her chair as the _Megami_'s bridge quaked under another near miss by the destroyers in the gulf. They had to do _something_ about them— the _Megami_'s laminate armor was no use against solid shells.

"The Duel and Buster are going to attack those destroyers," Milly reported, as the bridge shook again.

"We need to support them somehow," Murrue answered. "Romero, can we fire the Valiants?"

"Yes, ma'am," he responded, "but we'll need to reroute power first."

Murrue looked back towards the sky, as the _Mephistopheles_ curved around for another attack. It turned again in midair, firing a blast off to the side, as the Strike Gundam pounded a beam shot against the ship's laminated armor.

Inside the Strike Gundam, Mwu ground his teeth as his shots slammed against the _Mephistopheles_' hull and had no effect.

"Now I know how our enemies feel," he grunted. "This stuff's a pain in the ass!"

The _Mephistopheles_ opened fire with a salvo of anti-ship missiles. The Strike spiraled up into the air, missiles streaking up after it. Mwu grinned and cut the thrusters, dropping down and destroying the incoming missiles with a CIWS blaze. He plunged through the smoke and opened fire again, pounding more shots against the _Mephistopheles_' hull.

"As long as I can distract you guys, that'll do!" he yelled. "_Megami_, do something about those destroyers!"

Down below, aboard the _Megami_, Murrue glanced over at Romero. "Reroute enough energy to the Valiants to get them working!" she ordered. A near miss rattled the bridge. "Hurry!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

The Daggers were thinning out by now, Dearka noted, to the point where he figured it would be impossible for them to break through the _Megami_'s CIWS fire. He idly wondered exactly how many rounds they had left as the Buster scanned the gulf. Three destroyers were out there, and Yzak was fighting through mobile suits and missiles to get to them. They would never see him coming— hopefully.

The Buster took off along the coastline, leaping up and activating its engines to skim over the water, guns deployed. The Daggers turned to open fire, but the _Megami_'s CIWS kept them back behind their shields. Dearka leveled off his energy rifle, but a beam shot from one of the Daggers held him off, and he backed away to fire off a salvo of missiles instead.

"Dammit," he grunted, turning to fire on the Dagger and force it back behind its shield. "I'll have to deal with them first!"

The Daggers turned, standing knee-deep in the water, and fired back with their rifles. Dearka skimmed along the surface of the water, dodging their shots, and lunged up into the air, flamboyantly combining his rifles and pounding a high-energy blast into the Daggers' ranks, destroying three of them.

"You guys will have to do better than that!" Dearka laughed, taking off again and dodging more return fire. The Buster leapt up again, this time switching to its gunlauncher and firing down into the water between the Daggers. As a massive column of seawater rose up around them, Dearka landed in the surf, switched to his high-energy rifle, and fired again— and three more explosions inside the column of water.

Flashing a grin, Dearka took off again towards the destroyers.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_**

"Lee," Tapang's voice growled through the _Mephistopheles_' bridge. "The enemy mobile suits are starting to push back my Dagger battalion."

Lee cast a grim glance down at the _Megami_, as it fired another near miss with its Gottfrieds towards his ship. He glanced again at the Strike Gundam, as the _Mephistopheles_' own Gottfrieds struggled to hold it off. With this, he could hardly afford to fire on the _Megami_ again…and Tapang's fleet was beginning to take fire.

"Hold them off for as long as you can," Lee said. "We need to take out the ship above all. The mobile suits will be easy pickings after that."

"I hesitate to call any of these foes 'easy pickings,' Lee," Tapang answered. "My ships are not well-equipped to fight off mobile suits. If we are attacked— "

"Then I'll move in and abandon the attack on the ship," Lee cut him off. "They can't move anyway." He gripped his armrests as the ship rattled from another beam shot pounding against its hull. "Keep your destroyers in place, shelling the coast, until the last moment before you pull them back. We can't let this opportunity go."

——————————————————————————————————————————

Cagalli cursed as the Strike Rouge went into a dizzying nosedive. Behind her, a storm of missiles from the Diablo Gundam came streaking in after her. She pulled up as she approached the ocean's surface, pulling away as the missiles slammed into the water and exploded, and the Rouge pulled up ahead, back into the air.

Up above, the Justice and Diablo locked sabers again, with both pushing against each other with the help of their engines. Cagalli leveled off her beam rifle and opened fire— the Diablo pushed off the Justice's shield with its legs, ducking aside as the beam shot tore between the two Gundams.

"Get behind him!" Athrun shouted. Cagalli jetted to the left as the Diablo returned fire with its CIWS. The Justice threw itself back down at the Diablo, beam saber raised, bringing the two machines crashing together again. Cagalli skirted around the Diablo's back, leveling off her beam rifle— but before she could fire, the Diablo had somersaulted over the Justice's head, kicking the Justice in the back as it did, and took off again.

Inside the Justice, Athrun scowled as he whirled around, opening fire with his beam cannons. The Diablo dove up through the air with a flashy somersault, hurling both of its beam boomerangs down at the Justice. The Strike Rouge lunged up over the Justice's head to shoot them down with its beam rifle, taking aim at the Diablo itself next.

Instead, the Diablo opened fire with its own beam cannons, forcing the Justice and Rouge back behind their shields. It charged forward, saber drawn, and kicked the Justice aside, stabbing forward with its saber. Cagalli parried the blow with her shield and squeezed off a shot with her beam rifle, only to watch it land harmlessly against the Diablo's shield.

"Dammit!" she shouted, taking off over the Diablo's head before it could follow up. "This guy is unstoppable!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

The Strike Gundam rattled as a missile exploded a little too close by. Mwu grunted as more CIWS bullets bounced off the Strike's frame, and he hid his rifle behind his shield, knowing that the CIWS would rip it out of his hands if he left it exposed. The Strike pitched down towards the _Mephistopheles_ again, opening fire with its beam rifle and this time aiming for one of the ship's exposed Valiant railguns— but the ship edged to the side, and Mwu's shot went singing by the railgun, just missing.

"Whoever's at the helm of that thing is pretty good," Mwu grumbled. Another missile came streaking up towards the Strike— Mwu shot it down with his beam rifle and followed up with another rifle shot down below, towards one of the Gottfrieds. Again, the _Mephistopheles_ made a tiny course adjustment that let it slide by unharmed— again it returned fire, this time with the other Gottfried, forcing Mwu to duck to the side.

He glanced down towards the gulf as the Strike rose into the air, out of the range of the CIWS. Down below, the Duel and Buster were trying to attack a trio of destroyers that had moved forward from the fleet in the gulf, and were shelling the coast. So far, it didn't appear that they were having any luck. He looked back at the _Mephistopheles_, as it curved around for another pass at the _Megami_, only to be stopped by a wall of Gottfried fire. They could handle themselves.

Mwu cut the Strike's thrusters and turned to plunge down towards the destroyers. The _Mephistopheles_ sent a wave of missiles after him— he fired a beam rifle shot into their ranks to wipe them out, and roared down towards the destroyers.

——————————————————————————————————————————

"You guys can't stop me now!" Yzak shouted, as the Duel vaulted into the air from the water's surface. A trio of Strike Daggers across the bay had rushed in to water up to their shoulders, firing back with their beam rifles, but the Duel darted through the air and fired back with its beam rifle, taking down one of the Daggers and rushing towards the destroyer on the right. The destroyer's main gun boomed— the shell clipped the Duel's right shoulder, sending it spiraling down into the water. Yzak cursed as he fired the booster, pushing the Duel out of the water before the engines could be waterlogged. The destroyer opened fire again with its main cannon, but this time Yzak managed to skirt around the shell, letting it land in the sea and throw up a massive column of water.

"I don't think so!" Yzak snapped, taking off along the water's surface. More shots came down in the water around him— he snapped his attention towards the rest of the fleet, as it opened fire with another salvo. The Duel rocketed into the air under the second salvo, as it blasted more towers of water into the air. Yzak glanced over his shoulder at the destroyer below him as it fired a swarm of missiles.

"There's got to be some way through all this!" he growled, taking off again and letting the missiles pass by under his feet. Spiraling in midair, he squeezed off a railgun shell that blew one of the destroyer's CIWS guns apart— but the main cannon boomed again, nearly hitting the Duel a second time.

Yzak dropped down towards the ship, firing his own CIWS guns and scarring the ship's hull. He landed with a crash, shoving the destroyer's bow down into the water and lifting its stern out of the sea. "There!" The Duel snapped its beam rifle into position and fired into the destroyer's bridge, wiping it out with a blaze. More shots came down around the destroyer from the rest of the fleet, but Yzak ducked under the destroyer's hull, letting one of the shells slice through the air over his head— and with a crash, he fired a railgun shell into the destroyer's missile array. With a thunderous blast that sent the Duel reeling off the ship's deck, the vessel broke in two, and the remains were quick to slip beneath the waves.

Yzak turned back towards the Strike Daggers, as they staggered back towards him, and took off.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Somersaulting through the air, Dearka grinned wildly as shells and missiles exploded around him, aiming for the destroyer on the left. They couldn't stop him at this point.

A Strike Dagger rose up from the sea, climbing aboard the destroyer, followed by two more. Dearka narrowed his eyes as they opened fire, and ducked down towards the ocean's surface, dodging their beams. The destroyer opened fire with missiles, but Dearka took off again, skimming along the water, letting the missiles crash into the sea and explode behind him. He stormed towards the destroyer's hull, leaping up at the last second to dodge another salvo of beams— and as he passed over the ship, he fired both his high-energy rifle and gunlauncher, destroying the destroyer's main gun and one of the Daggers.

"Good enough!" he shouted, stopping himself over the water and coming around for a second pass. Explosions along the surface of the water stopped him, throwing the Buster back— cursing, he glared over at the rest of the fleet, as showered his position with cannon fire. "They're gonna hit their own ship!" he exclaimed, ducking as a shell passed over his shoulder. "Are they mad?!"

CIWS fire from the stricken destroyer pelted the Buster's armor— Dearka took off again, racing forward and circling around the stern of the ship, as more shells and missiles pounded into the water around him. He took aim with his high-energy rifle again, firing at the destroyer's hull just above the waterline. A thunderous blast rocked the ship over to its side, ripping the hull open. Seawater poured in as the two remaining Strike Daggers struggled to hold on— just as a misaimed shot from one of the destroyers in the distance slammed into the remaining Dagger on the stern, knocking it into the ocean. Dearka fired off his last set of missiles, pounding them all into either the last Dagger on the ship's deck or the deck itself. The Dagger vanished in a puff of smoke and fire, while the destroyer disappeared beneath the sea.

Dearka smirked and took off back towards the _Megami_.

——————————————————————————————————————————

With his Dark Dagger L throwing sparks, Barbosa brought his saber down on the Aegis's shield, hoping to drive it down towards the ocean and into the range of the fleet's guns. The three destroyers that Tapang had moved forward to shell the coast were being torn apart— two of them were already on their way to the bottom of the gulf, and the third probably would not be long in joining them.

Beam shots from the Aegis snapped his attention back to reality— he ducked aside from them and charged back into the Aegis's face, stabbing forward with his saber, only to see the Aegis parry the attack with his own saber. The Dagger opened fire with its CIWS, kicking the Aegis back, and Barbosa deployed his last Stiletto, hurling it into the Aegis's chest. The blast sent the Aegis spiraling back down towards the ocean— Barbosa grinned and charged after it.

Inside the Aegis, Andy shook his head— that was what he got for letting his guard down.Explosions rocked the mobile suit's frame, and Andy cast an anxious glance over his shoulder. The enemy fleet was firing shells— and the Dagger had just forced him into their line of fire.

Andy used his shield to parry the Dagger's follow-up saber strike. "Whoever you are, you've got guts to follow me in here!" Andy said with a grin. "But let's see how long you last here without Phase Shift!"

Andy took off again, ducking aside to dodge an incoming shell as he did. The Dagger followed, beam saber raised, as shells and missiles exploded around it. Andy whirled around with his saber, blocking its attack, just as he heard one of the guns below boom again.

"Now or never!"

Inside the Dagger, Barbosa ground his teeth as the Aegis rocketed away backwards. He raised his saber to charge after the retreating Gundam, but the Aegis boosted up into the air—

The Dagger rattled as a shell from the fleet below blew off its right arm.

"Dammit!" Barbosa yelled. He glared up at the Aegis as it came back down, sabers ignited, and rocketed backward to dodge its killing blow. Barbosa opened fire with his CIWS, taking off backwards and angling for the _Mephistopheles_.

He glared over his shoulder at the Aegis. "I'll look forward to our next fight, Desert Tiger…"

——————————————————————————————————————————

"_YOU BOTH CAN'T BEAT ME!_" Jack shrieked, as the Diablo and Justice locked sabers. Behind him, the Strike Rouge opened fire with its beam rifle, but the Diablo again ducked aside and forced the Justice back on its heels. "_I can handle you both!_"

The Justice came streaking in again, saber raised, and brought it down with a crash on the Diablo's shield, forcing it back. Jack stared up furiously at the Justice as his vision began to blur— he felt weakness wash through him like ice water, loosening his death grip on the Diablo's controls.

"Jack!" he heard a voice say. "Your vitals are falling! Return to the ship!"

Darkness enveloped him as he felt his mobile suit take off into the air and curve around towards something, presumably the ship. He glanced back at the Justice and Strike Rouge as they quizzically watched him go, and wondered who they were.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Equatorial Union _Spengler_-class aircraft carrier _Sukarno_**

The _Sukarno_ shook as a missile came down into the water nearby. Tapang clutched the railing, glaring up ahead at the _Megami_. They had been trapped in the sand, and yet they had still managed to fend off his fleet and the _Mephistopheles_. He had to admit, they were better fighters than he had given them credit for.

"Admiral, the _Hanoi_ has been sunk!" one of the deckhands shouted.

"They're better fighters than I thought," Tapang grunted. "Call back our mobile suits! Fire the retreat flares and contact the _Mephistopheles!_ And send out the _Jakarta_ to pick up survivors!" He glared up at the _Mephistopheles_ as his crew scurried to work, wondering how Lee would take this.

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To be continued…


	9. Phase 09: A Time to Heal

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

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Phase 09 - A Time to Heal

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**June 29th, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

He was sleeping. That was a good sign— it meant his condition had stabilized, and stability was what Jack needed the most right now.

Alison stood in the maintenance pod room, watching Jack sleep in his pod, arms crossed. They had tried to use the Psyco System, but had been unable to send a clear signal thanks to the _Megami_'s interference. It was just as well, though— even without the Psyco System, Jack had found a way to go into a frenzy that ended with unconsciousness.

The room's door opened— Alison cast a sidelong glance towards it, half-expecting Peterson or Barbosa to enter, but instead it was Lee. He greeted her with a grim nod and looked down at Jack, still slumbering, a pained look still on his face.

"What happened?" Lee asked.

Alison looked back down at Jack. "He got too worked up during the battle and overloaded his own nervous system," she explained. "It happens from time to time."

"And Headquarters thinks it's still worth it to send him out?" Lee asked. Alison glared over at him.

"He can still fight," she said sharply.

"But at a rather high cost," Lee answered. Alison blinked. "I would not send out a pilot if he were too sick to fly, even if he's my best pilot. Better to keep him here, so that he can recover, than to send him out and get less than his best in return." He peered down at the sleeping boy. "Where did he come from?"

"From Lodonia," Alison replied guardedly.

"Before that," Lee added. "Before he became an Extended."

Alison looked back down at Jack herself, trying to remember. "The Marshall Colony, I think," she said at last. Lee blinked at her.

"The Marshall Colony?" he echoed. "What was he doing there?"

Alison shrugged helplessly. "I wouldn't know," she said. "They erase the personal histories of all their Extended. They become new people. I don't even know if his name is really Jack O'Hara."

Lee glanced back at Alison. "Admiral Tapang wants to regroup before going back into battle," he said. "So he'll have a few days, at least."

Alison said nothing. Lee looked back at Jack, shook his head, and left.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Palo, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

The smoke was still in the air as Athrun watched the sun set lazily over the island of Leyte, casting an orange glow over the ocean as it dipped beneath the horizon. From his vantage point on the _Megami_'s deck, he could still see the wrecked mobile suits choking the beach. Hopefully, the _Mephistopheles_ and its accompanying fleet would stay back and keep themselves busy licking their wounds— because Athrun was in no mood to fight them again anytime soon.

He cast a glance back at the _Megami_, noting that it had taken relatively little damage in the battle. That was something of a miracle, really— and it meant that Captain Ramius had somehow managed to save the _Megami_ from almost certain doom yet again. Athrun now saw why he could never destroy the _Archangel_ while he was in ZAFT.

The deck door opened— Athrun glanced over his shoulder, and felt his muscles twitch towards their instinctive position at attention as Cagalli came through. They stared awkwardly at each other for a moment, before Cagalli shook her head and leaned against the railing next to Athrun.

"At least we're all still in one piece," Athrun said quietly. Cagalli sighed— Athrun sensed that she agreed, but wasn't feeling any better because of it.

"That's three battles in about two weeks that we've fought," she muttered, "and only one of those was against the Orb Navy." She looked wearily over her shoulder, at the wreckage strewn across the beach. "What the hell does the Atlantic Fed want with us?"

"We represent Lord Uzumi," Athrun said. "His ideals got in the way of their getting their hands on Kaguya. We want to topple their friends, the Seirans. We're a threat."

Cagalli rubbed her temples, trying in vain to stave off a headache, Athrun guessed. "Jeez, the Seirans…we still have to do something to help our allies in Orb, too."

Athrun looked down sullenly at the blackened beach. "Right now we just have to fix things here," he said. He glanced over at her, remembering the face of the Strike Rouge as it thrust its saber between the Justice and Diablo. "We can't go rushing into things."

Cagalli glanced back at him. "Well, we can't sit around and wait either," she said. "If someone's going to destroy something that's important to you, you don't let them do it. You fight for it and try to save it."

Athrun looked over at her awkwardly, and then returned his gaze to the ocean. "Thanks for saving me, by the way," he added quietly. Cagalli looked back over at him, a hint of a blush on her cheeks.

"Um, well, someone had to do it," she said uncomfortably. "I mean, no one else was in position…"

"I know," Athrun answered, "but still." He looked back at her, recounting all the times he had carried her to battle on his Justice Gundam's subflight lifter; all the times he had saved her from certain death, both in battle and by talking her out of some stupid move. "If someone's going to destroy something that's important to you, you don't let them do it. Right?"

Cagalli offered a thin smile. "Right," she agreed.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**June 30th, CE 73 - Orb Navy _Aegis_-class battleship _Yatenkou_, Pacific Ocean**

The reports were, to say the least, intriguing. Somehow, the Orb Raiders had managed to hold off a fifteen-ship fleet from the Equatorial Union, as well as an _Archangel_-class battleship that Intel believed was attached to the Atlantic Federation Special Forces. Somehow, they had managed to accomplish this while stuck in the sand off Leyte Gulf, being shot at by well over a hundred mobile suits. And now, they were probably busily repairing the damage and preparing to head out and escape.

Todaka rubbed his chin thoughtfully, staring down at the screen before him. His own fleet, such as it was, was still almost a week out from the Philippines…and looming before him still was the specter of international forces. Tapang commanded the Equatorial Union fleet, he heard, and that caused Todaka no concern— the Equatorial Union had no history of being uncooperative with Orb on military matters. But the Atlantic Federation? Todaka had not forgotten who had smashed through Orb's defenses two years and fifteen days earlier, bringing his proud country to its knees as a "protectorate."

Protectorate. How arrogant, to think that the Atlantic Federation could puff itself up as the guardian of the very country it had just demolished.

Speaking of the Atlantic Federation, though, Todaka remembered the Atlantic Fed _Archangel_-class, acting in concert with Tapang's fleet. He idly wondered how they had managed to get along that way— it certainly could not have been the brainchild of a politician in the Atlantic Federation. They hated cooperation with other countries. But perhaps the ranks of their officer corps were a bit more realistic.

"Captain," he said, glancing over at the _Yatenkou_'s captain, "get me a line to that Atlantic Federation warship."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Palo, Leyte Gulf**

The _Megami_'s entire mechanical crew was hard at work repairing the ship, reasoning that the sooner the _Megami_ could get off the ground, the sooner the mechanics could get back to work on the mobile suits in relative security. To that end, the pilots were essentially left to their own devices, particularly in regards to the dwindling complement of Murasames, which had incurred more damage during the battle than the Phase Shift-armored Gundams. So Dearka did not really mind putting his Coordinator skills to work in helping the pilots repair their machines.

That did not, however, stop Dearka from getting tired.

Night was beginning to fall, and Dearka glanced back up at the Murasame he had been working on from his place at the gantry. It was good enough, he figured— the pilot could go about screwing around with the operating system however he saw fit, and computer programming was not really Dearka's forte anyway. Down below, Murdoch was swearing at something, and Dearka decided that it probably wasn't worth incurring his wrath at any rate. With that, he yawned and slipped away down the gantry.

The _Megami_'s halls were relatively empty— the entire crew, minus the pilots and a skeleton crew to staff the bridge and other vital areas, had been organized into shifts in order to expedite the repairs. This meant that at any given time, half of the crew was feverishly working on the hull, while the other half was sound asleep. As for the pilots, they helped out where they could, but they were kept on standby in case of another attack. And that was exactly how Dearka wanted it.

He wondered what Milly was up to at the moment. She was probably on the bridge, monitoring communications and looking for any signs of a threat over the airwaves. And, Dearka supposed, she was probably pretending to be intrigued and focused on her job, while in actuality bored out of her mind. Listening to Filipino radio stations all afternoon was really not very exciting when one did not understand Filipino.

He glanced out the portholes as he wandered down the halls, looking out on the beach and the darkened wrecks of mobile suits there. The battle had been a miracle, frankly— either the _Megami_'s pilots were better than they thought, or their foes were worse than _they_ thought. Either way, with over three dozen mobile suits shot down and three ships settling into their new home at the bottom of Leyte Gulf, the enemy fleet would have to think twice about attacking again. And that was how Dearka liked it.

Pausing in an intersection, he briefly contemplated passing by the bridge to see if Milly was there. He figured that she still was— and if she wasn't, she was probably too exhausted to do anything. He shrugged and headed for his room.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 1st, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Philippine Sea**

Lee was immediately put off by the mask. He knew that the famous ZAFT ace, Rau Le Creuset, wore one— but Lee also imagined that those who served under him were equally put off by the mask. And now, the man on the screen in front of him had not just a mask but a full-on helmet, a giant chunk of black, redlined plastic obscuring his entire head and revealing only a long mane of blond hair, framing the lower half of a grinning, devious face. Lee hated it.

On the other hand, the man was wearing the black uniform of the Atlantic Federation Special Forces, and had the shoulder boards and collar tabs of a colonel…as well as the unit pin of the elusive and ominous secret army of the uppermost echelons of the Earth Alliance, the Phantom Pain.

In fact, Lee supposed, he may have been looking at the man whose combat nickname had been donated to that unit.

"Captain Lee," the man said, finally speaking and breaking Lee's reverie. "I understand you're pursuing that Orb Raiders ship, the _Megami?_"

Lee nodded. "Yes sir. I'm also cooperating with Admiral Tapang of the Equatorial Union."

"And," the Phantom Pain said, "you had them pinned on Leyte, but they managed to throw you back."

Lee nodded again. When it was put _that_ way, it sounded even worse.

"Well, no worries," the man said again, a Cheshire grin on his face. "They're an extraordinary opponent…so to defeat them, you'll need some extraordinary allies." He sat back in his chair. "So allow me to introduce myself. I'm Colonel Neo Roanoke of the 81st Autonomous Mobile Corps. I'm aboard the _John Paul Jones_ right now, and I'm a day or two out from Yokosuka. And I'm bringing with me some reinforcements from home."

"Thank you, sir," Lee said humbly.

"Once we reach Yokosuka, we'll stock up and head south to join you," Neo said. "I trust the Orb Raiders will be up and running by then, but with any luck, you and your Equatorial buddy can trap them and drive them into Manila."

"Manila?" Lee echoed. Terrible stories rose up from that city, an empty husk of civilization, abandoned after a gas attack in some bygone war, and not resettled since. It had once been the capital of the Philippines, but now it was a shell— and Tapang would probably have some reservations about fighting in it.

"That city's been abandoned since the Reconstruction War," Neo said with a shrug. "Nerve gas tends to drive people out. But at any rate, captain, I look forward to seeing you in action."

The screen went dark. Lee sat back, unable to shake the feeling of foreboding that this eerie masked man gave him.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 2nd, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Spengler_-class aircraft carrier _John Paul Jones_, Yokosuka Naval Station, Japan**

"Oh for Christ's sake!" a voice shouted. A pool stick came down with a crack on the side of the table, nearly splintering in the hand of the glowering figure staring down at the table, as the cue ball went cruising right into the corner pocket.

Shams Coza barely held back another string of obscenities— mostly because he was running out of original material. But this was the third time in a row that his shot at the number ten ball had gone horribly wrong— where was his luck today?

"Maybe you just suck at this game," offered Mudie Holcroft from across the table, digging the cue ball out of the corner pocket and putting it back on the table. With deft precision, she knocked it forward into the three ball, sending it spiraling down into the corner pocket on Shams' right.

"Oh, what the hell?" Shams grumbled. "I kicked your ass at this just yesterday!"

"Hurry up," Mudie said with a sigh, leaning against the side of the table. Shams sighed and stared back down at the grim green tableau before him.

He looked up at the door as it opened, hoping it wasn't an officer that would make him get up and salute. Instead, he noticed a familiar shock of silver hair that could only belong to one man.

Sven Cal Bayan cast a dour glance across the room. Shams looked back at him and waved him over.

"Sven, get over here," he said. "Tell me if Mudie's cheating."

"Cheating?" Mudie sputtered. "You're just being a sore loser."

"I haven't lost yet!" Shams shot back.

"Well, you're about to."

Sven took the opportunity to slip across the room to the vending machine, retrieving a soda and slipping out just as stealthily. He had spent the day working on the Strike Noir, standing in silent slumber down in the hangar, and all he wanted was a drink to soothe his scratchy, drying throat…and silence the mechanics who were insisting that he go take a break. Some people cared too much about other people's business and not enough about their own.

He glanced out over the ocean as he headed down the halls, towards the hangar. Somewhere out there, the Orb Raiders were waiting. He had heard all about them and their powerful Gundams.

He looked back towards the hangar. Well, he had one of his own.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 3rd, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Palo, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

There was an odd, cold, empty feeling in the air that chilled Lacus Clyne to the core as she wandered down the halls of the _Megami_, tools under her arms to lend her hands to the ongoing effort to repair the ship. She would not let her hands be idle when they did not have to be— she would not be useless.

But the feeling of death still clung to the air, weighing down her steps and making her acutely aware of the fact that she was alone in the hallway. That made sense, really— everyone was still working tirelessly to get the _Megami_ back into fighting shape. But it left her alone with the feeling of death surrounding her, and she certainly did not like it.

She thought back to better times as she headed towards the hangar. It was only now, with no emotional anchor, that she realized that she too was only a child and could not bear the weight of the world on her shoulders. The brave leaders whose exploits and achievements were recorded for all to see in the history books felt its weight more often than not; even Christ had had his moment of doubt. Could she not have her own weakness within?

But what kind of leader had weakness? She was the moral compass of the Orb Raiders; what Cagalli gave in determination and moral direction for Orb, Lacus gave in political savvy and moral direction for the PLANTs. Of course, determination and political savvy didn't help anyone when the Orb Navy or the Atlantic Federation was shooting at them, but she had a crucial job. How could she falter under it? As the leader, she had to make the hard decisions— and then look as if she had made the right choice, even if she wasn't sure she had. It had been hard to do when she was the leader of the Clyne Faction, in the place of her father after Patrick Zala's gunmen had taken him from her; it had been hard to do when she was effectively the leader of the Three Ships Alliance, trying to end a war that she ironically found herself to be part of. And she was only a child, at that— was she destined to be Churchill and Gandhi, rolled into one, at age eighteen? Had she been given the personality to lead adults, when she was only a child? Gandhi had dedicated his life to create India— what was Lacus to dedicate her life to create? Peace? She thought he had achieved it once before, but now it was falling apart.

Now, she looked forward grimly to the day when the Orb Raiders would stand on the world stage, and she would again have to assume the mantle of leadership with Cagalli. But Cagalli had Athrun to rely on, in her times of doubt— even if neither could bring themselves to make anything more of their relationship, they still knew that they could turn to each other. Cagalli would not have to pick up the pieces herself. But Lacus had relied on Kira…and now he was gone. He had given her strength, because she knew that when the shadows of doubt crept around her, she could turn to him and find the strength to believe in her own choices. Now Kira was dead— was that strength dead too?

Unbidden, her thoughts turned towards Sai. The strength began to return— not as great, not as strong, but it was enough. Lacus sighed, knowing that she did not have to face her burden alone— and as long as she had someone by her side, that was all that really mattered.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 4th, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Philippine Sea**

"Reaction time is still around .156," Alison said, glancing at the readings on the console. She shook her head. The Psyco System could shave time off his reflexes, but it could also kill him, and Alison wasn't willing to do that.

Jack looked up at Alison. "But that's still good, isn't it?" he asked. Alison sighed— it was good enough for her, but nothing would be good enough for Colonel Rico Barbosa. She glanced up at the screen again and shut down the clocks.

"That's enough for today," she said. "Go on back to the maintenance pod and get some rest." Jack eagerly undid the restraints and hopped out of the simulator.

"Where are we gonna go after this mission is done?" he asked. "Are we gonna go to space? 'cuz I wanna go to space!"

Alison opened the door for him as he bounded out of the room, and proceeded after him. "I don't know," she answered. She dared not mention Lodonia again— that was as good as a block word to him. But that was his likeliest next port of call— the Extended remained firmly in their cages either at Althea Crater on the Moon or at Lodonia Island when they weren't being deployed. The Atlantic Federation was not about to risk its prized soldiers being wrenched from their grip.

"Maybe we'll go to space," she said with a shrug. It was a half-truth, at least— since Althea Crater _was_ in space. "I don't know. We'll see once this mission is complete."

"I hope we do!" Jack exclaimed. "'cuz I'm sick of all this water!"

Alison watched him carefully for a moment, and then suppressed a sigh of relief that them mention of water had not set off nightmarish memories of Lodonia. His trainers there had been brutal, even more brutal than those at Althea, holding his head underwater every time he made a mistake, and giving him that terrible block word. And now he was surrounded by the same sharks that had kept him running and swimming and fighting for his life at Lodonia.

Odd, then, she reflected, that he seemed like an excitable little boy.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 5th, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Palo, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

Athrun had to admit that yellow was really not an appealing color, but the hexagonal logo of the Junk Guild was a godsend. There were some things that money couldn't buy, and at least seven high-output power adapters for the _Megami_'s laminated armor heat management systems were evidently among them. But the Junk Guild always came through, and even though the huge yellow ship resting on the sandbar next to the _Megami_ was giving Athrun a headache, that was infinitely better than spending days on end trying to find the last few parts the ship needed to get airborne without blowing up in the process.

The junker in question was quite a character, though. With brown hair pushed high into the air by a wide blue headband, and what looked like a perpetual overexcited grin on his face, Lowe Gear cut a very distinctive figure in the fading sun. He seemed less excited to be making money off the deal— and he was making a lot— but more excited to get to poke around the insides of a warship that was an amalgam of Earth Alliance, Orb, and ZAFT technology. The brown-haired girl who was traveling with him had remarked that the Orb Raiders were better at getting patently incompatible parts to be compatible than Lowe was— and Lowe responded by yelling about what a great mechanic he was and how he could build a ship like the _Megami_ in two weeks, tops, if given the parts.

Athrun, meanwhile, was tasked with overseeing the delivery and signing for it, and had a suitcase filled with the necessary funds to complete the transaction in hand. Lowe emerged from the ship in a jeep and leapt out when it neared Athrun, without bothering to shut it off, leaving the girl to shriek angrily at him and throw the emergency brake.

"You sure you don't want me to help put Humpty-Dumpty back together?" he asked. "I could get you guys back in the air in, like, three days."

Athrun shook his head with a cordial smile. "We were attacked a few days ago," he said. "By the Atlantic Federation and the Equatorial Union."

"Dude!" Lowe exclaimed, eyes wide. "What, do you owe them money or something?"

"I don't know," Athrun said with a shrug, "we're drawing on the Athha family's assets. At least, the ones we could cash in before they were frozen." He glanced over at Lowe's ship, and winced at the bright yellow hull. "At any rate, we're always at risk for another attack. We wouldn't want to endanger you as well."

"Oh, endanger, hell!" laughed Lowe. "I'm always in danger one way or another! Come on, please? That ship's awesome!"

"It's really not necessary," Athrun added, waving him off. "Besides, wouldn't you charge us more?"

"Well, I wasn't going to," Lowe answered with a shrug, "but now that you mention it— "

"Then never mind," Athrun interrupted. Lowe laughed again.

"Well, that's cool, but make sure you keep this under your hat." To emphasize, he pointed inside the forest of hair sprouting skyward from his head. "Neutrality and all that."

"I know," Athrun said, signing the invoice with his tried and true pseudonym, "Alex Dino," in the name of a mechanic in Belgrade. "Besides, if we're attacked again, it'll threaten your neutrality."

"Yeah, I guess," Lowe agreed. "But still, we can hide the ship!"

"Do you have a mobile suit?" Athrun asked skeptically, handing the invoice back.

"Do I have a mobile suit?!" Lowe echoed, eyes alight. "You bet your ass I do! And the Red Frame could wipe the floor with your silly Gundam-types!"

"If you say so," Athrun deadpanned. "But you've done enough already, and we don't want to endanger you anymore than we already have."

"I guess you're right," Lowe conceded with a sigh. "Well, you guys take care, so I can come fix your ship again."

Lowe headed back towards the jeep, and Athrun turned back towards the sea.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The repairs were in the mechanics' hands by now, and securing the necessary parts was being left to Athrun, so there was little more for Murrue to do than stand on the deck and enjoy what constituted a break. Neumann was a big boy, at any rate, and could handle the bridge while she was gone.

She cast a sweeping glance across the battlefield, at the blackened wrecks of former mobile suits, and the empty hulks of warships half-sunken in the gulf. There had already been a great deal of death here, and they had only added to it, but she was still eager to get going. The longer they stayed, the more risk they were at for a second attack.

The door opened behind her; she glanced over her shoulder and smiled at Mwu as he made his way up next to her, putting a warm arm around her shoulders.

"That junker is something else," he said, shaking his head. "I never met anyone who actually took interest in the way we've put this thing together."

"I've never met anyone who could figure out how we put this thing together," Murrue added, looking back at the sea. "Even the mechanics say they don't really remember very clearly."

They both looked down below as Lowe sped off in his jeep, back towards his ship across the beach. The parts were still being loaded into the ship's hangar, where they would then be fit back into the giant flying jigsaw puzzle that was the _Megami_, with the surplus stashed away for the next time they needed to put the flying jigsaw puzzle back together again.

"Cagalli's taking it a little better than expected," Murrue added.

Mwu laughed. "Comparatively speaking," he said. "She doesn't actually take things _well_; she just takes them well _for Cagalli_." He shook his head. "I dunno how Athrun puts up with that all the time. I couldn't."

"And that's why you're with me," Murrue finished with a laugh of her own.

"If you ever get like that, it's over," Mwu warned. They both laughed again.

"Oh, she's not that bad," Murrue said, still smiling. "She's just stubborn, and we're the ones who have to get through her stubbornness and make her see reason. It's like having kids."

"Yeah," Mwu agreed.

They both looked back down at the beach, where Athrun was heading back towards the ship, casting a long shadow over the beach from the sinking sun.

"They _are_ kids," Mwu added.

"Well," Murrue said, "they're _our_ kids."

Mwu smiled. "So," he finished, "we'll take care of them."

——————————————————————————————————————————

To be continued…


	10. Phase 10: The Men in the Shadows

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

——————————————————————————————————————————

Phase 10 - The Men in the Shadows

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 6th, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Palo, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

The best way to describe Commander Nakajima, it seemed to Cagalli, was "craggy." He had the look of a mountain more than a man, scarred and lined from years of service on the high seas. His ship, the _Aegis_-class battleship _Akamaiou_, had laid anchor off the coast of Leyte Island, and taken a lifeboat to the shore, where he now stood on the otherwise idyllic shore to cast his imposing shadow over the diminutive Cagalli, with a squad of M1 Astrays standing guard along the beach, all sporting the Athha family's crest on their left shoulders.

Cagalli did her best to remain as regal and upright as her opulent uniform demanded in the shadow of Commander Nakajima. After all, there was business to conduct.

"You said you managed to acquire fifteen M1s," she said, casting a glance over the _Akamaiou_, its deck and hangars loaded down with mobile suits. "But I only see thirteen."

"Two of them didn't have all the parts needed," Nakajima explained, crossing his titanic arms, "so we cannibalized them for parts." He looked back at Cagalli. "However, I don't know how our allies on the mainland are doing."

Cagalli looked out bitterly over the ocean. "They're probably fighting for their lives," she said. "But we can't go anywhere until we finish the repairs."

"And even then," Nakajima added, "it would be nigh-impossible to break through Orb's defense perimeter, even if the _Akamaiou_ joined you. We would need an invasion fleet, at the least. And we don't have one."

Cagalli crossed her own arms. "I can't just sit around and let them die," she insisted. "We've still got over two dozen mobile suits. We can still fight."

Nakajima studied Cagalli's face for a moment. "Sometimes," he said guardedly, "the only course a commander can take is to have faith in his troops." He took a step back. "I am sure that our comrades in Orb will find a way to survive and escape the Seirans' crackdown. In the meantime, it is best for us to lie low and gather our strength. There is nothing we can do that would help them." He paused. "Do you have orders for us, Your Highness?"

Cagalli looked back at the towering officer grimly. "Take the _Akamaiou_ out into the Pacific, and find an island without too many people where you can drop anchor and wait. I'm going to postpone the attack until after the Seirans stop hunting people down."

"As you wish, Your Highness," Nakajima said, saluting sharply and turning back towards the lifeboat. Cagalli looked back out towards the _Akamaiou_.

So much work, it seemed, was going to waste.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Navy _Aegis_-class battleship _Yatenkou_, Molucca Sea**

Captain Ian Lee seemed to be a competent officer, Todaka supposed. He certainly didn't fit the oft-feared mold of an arrogant, megalomaniacal Atlantic Federation officer with little to no regard for anything other than his career— to the contrary, Lee seemed willing to discuss that less-than-stellar performance at Leyte Gulf, where the stereotypical Atlantic Federation officer would have blamed someone else for it.

Still, Captain Todaka couldn't help but wonder if this man hadn't had some part in the invasion of Orb during the Valentine War. It remained a bitter pill to swallow— although the politicians might easily forget who occupied their country two years ago, Todaka was a man of the military, and military men did not forget their defeats.

He thought ahead bitterly to the impending battle. If he could get along with Captain Lee and Admiral Tapang, so much the better, but that still raised the shadow of the Orb Raiders themselves. How could he fight them when they had thrown back an Equatorial fleet and an _Archangel_-class battleship, while stuck in the sand and trying to patch up the holes the Orb Navy had left in their hull? They were a formidable force, to be sure.

And they had the princess holding aloft their banner. Todaka's heart sank at the thought that he would find himself in battle with Cagalli Yula Athha. She was certainly no strategist, she was certainly no politician, and if the combat video of the Strike Rouge was any indication, she was only a mediocre mobile suit pilot. But she had significance, and that was what brought Todaka pause. She was the last important member of the Athha family, the last one with any kind of political connection or importance. Without her, Uzumi Nara Athha and his ideals would be dead forever.

Which, Todaka mused grimly, meant it made all too much sense why the Seirans were sending him after her.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**National Defense Headquarters, Onogoro Island, United Emirates of Orb**

Everything was getting far too tangled for Jona Roma Seiran's liking. Originally, it had been a relatively simple matter. There had been one Atlantic Federation battleship pursuing the flagship of Orb's wayward princess— well, that was a relatively small matter, and as long as the Atlantic Federation merely barked up the tree without trying to climb it, that could be dealt with. However, the Equatorial Union then decided to throw in its two cents, and one of its major combat fleets. Now, Jona had his ambassador in New Delhi trying to smooth things over and maybe get them to call back their fleet. And Todaka and his meager expeditionary force were steaming gallantly through Indonesia, driving towards what was looking to be a diplomatic as well as military battlefield.  
Unato Ema Seiran, it seemed, was even more displeased with the way this was all shaking out. The miserly Chief Representative was hunched over the war room table, studying maps that charted the recent movements of all parties involved. Everything had converged a few days ago on Leyte Gulf, but as it turned out, that had gone wonderfully wrong.

"You know, we'll have a hard time keeping major military actions secret from the public," Unato growled. "Somehow the video will get out, or someone will see the battle, or something."

"It doesn't matter," Jona answered. "We can couch it in the context of our ongoing war with the Athha loyalists, and when people ask us why we kept it under wraps, we can spout our usual line about operational integrity."

"But this involves two sovereign nations," Unato responded, "one of them being the Atlantic Federation. We can't wave _that_ away with a PR magic wand."

"Well, we won't have to," Jona shot back. "The Atlantic Federation knows that it can't do anything to destabilize us, because out of Orb's four remaining noble families, the Seiran family is the only one that shows any inclination towards protecting their interests in Orb. They know full well that the Sahakus only want to play them against some other superpower."

Unato looked back down at the map, looking none too pleased. It wasn't too much of a concern to Jona, though, as he watched his anxious father carefully. Unato could worry all he wanted about the reactions of the public or the other countries involved, but all Jona was concerned with was threading the needle between fighting the Orb Raiders and provoking a war with the Equatorial Union or the Atlantic Federation. And there was still the Oceania Union to worry about as well— right now the Orb Raiders were in the Philippines, in the Equatorial Union's territory, but if they turned their ship south and slipped into Indonesia, they would be in the Oceania Union's territory, and that raised the specter of ZAFT interference.

Jona tried not to turn up his nose at the mere thought of ZAFT sticking their monoeyes into Orb's business. The Orb Raiders had to be stopped, and soon.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 7th, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_, Sulu Sea**

"His efficiency was down by 21," Peterson grumbled, poring over screens full of combat data from the Diablo's last sortie. "We can do better than this."

Standing stiffly by his side, Alison cast a stony glance at her subordinate. "It's good enough," she said. "We're not going back to Lodonia to ask for another Extended, because we pushed Jack too far and killed him."

Peterson shot back a glare at Alison. "We can't have any successful tests if we aren't willing to push his boundaries." He turned his glowering eyes back towards the screen. "The Psyco System is our ticket out of the basement on Lodonia, and it will help the Earth Alliance overcome ZAFT once and for all. I will see to that. Nothing will stop that."

Alison said nothing, cautiously watching her smoldering subordinate. What cost would have to be paid for Alfred Peterson to ascend the ranks of the Atlantic Federation's science corps?

"Your ambition is not worth Jack's life," she said quietly.

Peterson turned angrily on her, his eyes flashing. "Major," he answered, his voice quiet and simmering, "Jack O'Hara is an Extended. They are not human beings. They are tools."

"Jack is not— " Alison began.

"Your sentimentality is misplaced, _Major_," Peterson snapped. "We are still at war. And in war, sacrifices must be made. Jack is but one of them."

"We are _not_ at war," Alison sputtered.

"You think so?" Peterson shot back. "You think that the Coordinators aren't having this same conversation in the PLANTs? You think that there will truly be peace? If you do, then you are mistaken. War will come soon enough, and when it does, we will have to be ready. We will not condescend to another stalemate with the Coordinators— and the Psyco System will make sure that we will be victorious."

Alison glared back at Peterson for a moment. "The war is over," she said, "and instead of preparing for a war you insist is inevitable, it's better to spend your energies trying to avoid it."

Peterson scowled back. "There is no sense avoiding the inevitable, Major," he replied. "Never."

Peterson stormed out of the room. Alison looked back down angrily at the screens, wondering whether he was right.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 8th, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Palo, Leyte Gulf, the Philippines**

The _Megami_ shuddered as the engines came to life. Standing on the observation deck, Yzak watched tensely as the ship came to life, kicking up a cloud of sand and dust as it finally began to move. The ship lurched forward, spraying sand across the beach, and with a final roar of engines, lifted free from the beach and rose into the air.

Yzak heaved a sigh of relief as she felt the ship's deck tilt back, the _Megami_ slowly pulling itself into the air. They could finally move again— and that meant they could get back to business.

He turned away from the deck and headed back towards the hangar. His work was far from complete, and he doubted that the forces that had attacked them here earlier would let them go so easily.

Somewhere, as he strode down the halls, he imagined that Dearka was off harassing Milly. But that was what he usually did, and by now, Yzak no longer cared. He was a soldier; he had to have control. All he wanted was for this revolution to work out the way it was supposed to, so that he could pack himself off somewhere where nobody could bother him again.

He remembered his mother's death, bitter and cruel, once again. Causes were a rather empty thing to fight for, he had found, which made it even more ironic that he was fighting for one now. He tried to reconcile the two thoughts by telling himself that this cause he was fighting for was one of expediency— at heart, he was fighting to be left alone. He had invested so much energy and time in fighting for ZAFT, and ZAFT had turned around and killed one of the few people who mattered to him in the world. Now he was investing so much energy and time in fighting for the Athha family, and yet the specter of this cause somehow turning around and betraying him was always there as well.

At the very least, he knew that he was necessary. He was one of the best pilots Cagalli had at her disposal— she certainly couldn't afford to lose him.

He shook his head and sighed. Worrying about causes always seemed to end badly.

——————————————————————————————————————————

"At least we're moving again," Miriallia sighed, slumped into a chair in the mess hall with her hand propping up her chin. "Which means I don't have to listen to Filipino radio stations for fourteen hours a day."

"Or patching up holes in the hull," Dearka added.

They both glanced out the nearest porthole, watching the island of Leyte pan by underneath them. Neither had any idea where the ship was going, but at least the thing was airborne, so nobody had to panic about being attacked in the sand again, and nobody had to pray that once again their foes would be miraculously unable to hit a stationary target.

"Hopefully we'll be able to get away from those other ships," Milly added. "I don't know how much longer we can keep fighting them. Last time we got lucky."

"Yeah, well, you've got nothing to worry about," Dearka said. "I'll die before I let this ship go down."

Milly blinked at him. "Don't do that," she said. "It's not worth it if we all can't come home."

"That doesn't change anything," Dearka answered. "I'm never going to be able to go back to the PLANTs. This is my home now, and hell if I'm going to let you get hurt in it."

Milly studied his face for a moment and sighed again. "We're all in it together," she said, "and we all have to protect each other." She offered a smile. "So no more of this 'I'll protect you until the end' stuff. We're all doing that."

Dearka grinned back. "There's no being dramatic with you, is there?"

"Of course not," Milly laughed. "Now be a good boy and eat your dinner. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 9th, CE 73 - Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Panay, the Philippines**

The scene was a grim one. Spread out on a huge map of the Philippine islands, Murrue scanned the archipelago for the _Megami_'s approximate position, over the island of Panay. They were heading north…but so was the great collection of their enemies.

It did not look good. The _Archangel_-class and the surface fleet that had attacked them at Leyte Gulf were in the South China Sea, to the northwest, heading north along the same general bearing as the _Megami_. Meanwhile, there was another warship heading through the Strait of Luzon, to the north, coming down into the _Megami_'s range. And there was yet another fleet, this one carrying the IFF code of the Orb Navy, driving through the Sulu Sea to the west. All of their courses, if accurately projected, were taking them towards the island of Luzon…which was exactly where the _Megami_ was headed.

Andy scratched his head tiredly as he stared at the map from his chair on the side of the bridge. "Well, this is bad," he said. "If we head east, then that Orb fleet and that Atlantic Fed ship in the north will be able to follow us. And if we head west, we'll go right into the jaws of our friends from Palo."

Standing anxiously in the middle of the bridge, Cagalli looked frustrated. Every way they turned, they would somehow face enemies.

"We just keep running," she growled. "There's got to be some other way of dealing with this!"

"Like what?" Andy asked.

"We'll have to deal with them at some point," Murrue pointed out. "We won't be able to meet with other loyalists if we've got someone on our tail the whole time."

"We have to fight," Cagalli insisted. "Otherwise they'll just keep chasing us."

Andy sat back, draping one leg over the other, looking back pointedly at the map. "Okay," he said, "and where do you propose we make our gallant stand? We're screwed if we do it on the open seas."

Cagalli studied the map fervently. The giant city of Manila jumped out at her, and she pointed at it. "There," she said. "That's deserted, isn't it?"

Murrue peered at it for a moment. "It's deserted," she said, "but we have no hope of getting there before they do. So we won't be able to set a trap or something."

"And that means it'll just be urban combat," Andy added. "Which is going to be dangerous as hell."

"It's better than nothing," Cagalli said. "Let's fight them in Manila. We'll be able to take out their mobile suits and maybe some of those ships, too." She glanced at Andy, seeking unspoken approval.

He shrugged. "It'll be risky," he said. "Once you get into urban mobile suit combat, there's not much you can do in the way of tactics."

Cagalli looked back at the map. "Then we're going to have to win," she said.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 10th, CE 73 - Equatorial Union _Spengler_-class aircraft carrier _Sukarno_, South China Sea**

"There certainly are a lot of us," chuckled the eerie masked man in the black Atlantic Federation uniform. Standing on the bridge of the _Sukarno_, Tapang narrowed his eyes at the tableau before him. An elaborate video conference displayed across the _Sukarno_'s bridge the images of Captain Lee and Colonel Barbosa, aboard the _Mephistopheles_; Captain Todaka of the Orb Navy, aboard his flagship, the _Yatenkou_, with twelve other ships behind him; and now, Colonel Neo Roanoke of the Atlantic Federation, aboard his own ship, the _John Paul Jones_. It was, all told, getting to be a formidable fleet, with twenty-seven warships steaming towards Manila Bay after the fleeing Megami. Surely, with that many ships and nearly three hundred mobile suits, they would have to fall.

"The rats are running out of hiding places," Neo continued. "They can't outrun us, and it looks like they're going to make their final stand in Manila. So let's be ready for some urban combat."

Tapang winced. He would have to disturb the graves of his ancestors, it seemed.

"Now then," Neo continued, "since there are all so many of us, it would do us all some good if we were to get along, don't you agree?" He grinned dubiously at Tapang and Todaka. "Admiral Tapang and Captain Todaka, you two have the most ships, so we'll have you drop anchor off the coast and shell Manila until the Orb Raiders come out. Captain Lee, you can finish off their ship. The rest of us will take care of their mobile suits, and with any luck, they'll all be toast by the end of the day. Sound good?"

No objections were forthcoming from Tapang. It was the Orb Raiders, after all, who were choosing to make Manila the site of their final battle.

"Alright then," Neo said. "Set course for Manila."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Spengler_-class aircraft carrier _John Paul Jones_, South China Sea**

The bridge was silent as the _John Paul Jones_ slid quietly into Manila Bay, with mobile suits standing atop its decks in the moonlight. Captain Todaka's fleet was right behind the _John Paul Jones_. Admiral Tapang's fleet was already waiting several miles off the coast of Manila, as was the _Mephistopheles_. It was all coming into place rather well.

Standing on the bridge with arms crossed, feeling rather pleased with his handiwork, Neo watched Tapang's fleet and the _Mephistopheles_ carefully. They already had their guns pointed towards the empty, haunting towers of the Manila skyline. It would be quite a battle, Neo supposed— the mobile suits would have to fight among a forest of skyscrapers that would force them all into vicious close-quarters combat.

He glanced down at the _John Paul Jones_' deck. The deactivated Strike Noir stood at the ship's prow, just behind its beam cannon array, staring ahead stonily at the outline of the city. Sven, Shams, and Mudie would finally have a chance to prove just how powerful they were— after months of hunting down insurgents and a brief stint during the Black Sea War, he had no doubt that they were itching for a fight.

As for the _Mephistopheles_, Neo paused to ponder its captain. He was a competent officer; very competent, in fact. He would make a fine addition to the Phantom Pain.

Neo filed that idea away for later. Right now, he had a battle to look forward to.

"Colonel," the _John Paul Jones'_ captain said, stepping up next to Neo with a clipboard in hand. "ETA for the enemy warship is nine hours."

Neo pursed his lips. "They won't arrive until morning, then," he said.

"Sometime around 0830, if their current speed and trajectory are constant," the captain answered.

"Well, that's no big deal," Neo replied with a shrug. "They can't go too far in that time. And whenever they show up, we'll be waiting for them. Go inform the pilots."

The captain saluted and shuffled off. Neo looked back out at Manila, and grinned. One way or another, he was going to get quite a show.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 11th, CE 73 - Atlantic Federation _Spengler_-class aircraft carrier _John Paul Jones_, Manila Bay**

The Strike Noir came to life with a flash, its Phase Shift armor activating to give the pallid machine its dark and intimidating colors. Inside the cockpit, Sven Cal Bayan closed the visor of his helmet and cracked his knuckles. Two years of fighting insurgents in various hotspots around the world, and three days of fighting the Muslim League in the Black Sea War, had brought him to this.

At first blush, the mission looked like a simple one. The Orb Raiders were deploying their mobile suits into the giant urban jungle that was abandoned Manila. The Atlantic Federation, the Equatorial Union, and the Orb Navy were deploying their fleets close to the city, guns at the ready. The _Mephistopheles_ was spoiling for a fight with the _Megami_. And the mobile suits were filing into the concrete jungle to hunt down their Orb Raider adversaries. But this battle promised to be a ferocious close-quarters melee in which only the skilled— or the stupendously lucky— would survive.

The _John Paul Jones_ came to a halt in front of the Manila port. The Verde Buster and Blu Duel stepped out onto the starboard hatches.

"Sven," Neo's voice said. Sven glanced emotionlessly at the screen. "This one is going to be hairy. I trust you'll be able to operate on your own in the city."

"Yes sir," he answered. He glanced down at the Verde Buster and Blu Duel. "Shams, Mudie, all units will be on their own."

"Awesome," Shams answered. "Let's get this shit over with."

The Verde Buster and Blu Duel vaulted off the hatches, taking off towards the port. Sven narrowed his eyes at the city and took off.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Manila, the Philippines**

"Man," Dearka's voice grunted through the Justice Gundam's speakers. "This is gonna be fun. Look at all those mobile suits."

"We know how this'll work," Andy said. "Athrun, Cagalli, and I will lead the Murasames in the air. Yzak, Dearka, and Mwu can handle the ones on the ground. I'm sure you can handle yourselves in the city, right?"

"Guess we have no choice," Mwu said with a shrug. "Stay on your toes, boys and girls, this'll be like fighting in a labyrinth."

Athrun clenched his fists around the Justice's controls, as the Orb Raiders' six Gundams stood tensely on the bank of the Pasig River. Up ahead, the _Mephistopheles_ loomed over the Manila skyline, and dozens of mobile suits charged forward over the skyscrapers. Dozens more were dropping down into the city, armed to the teeth.

"Well," he told himself, "this _is_ our final stand…so it's now or never."

The Gundams took off.

——————————————————————————————————————————

To be continued…


	11. Phase 11: What War is All About

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

——————————————————————————————————————————

Phase 11 - What War is All About

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 11th, CE 73 - Manila, the Philippines**

The ground shook under the feet of dozens of mobile suits, as they tramped down the streets of Manila, weapons in hand. Inside the Strike Noir, Sven Cal Bayan cast a grim glance over his two companions as they advanced. Behind the Strike Noir were three gleaming new Slaughter Daggers, manned by three grizzled Phantom Pain pilots, mobile armor veterans of Jachin Due. And if one could survive Jachin Due in a Mobius unit, then one was either very skilled or very, very lucky.

Standing on the banks of the Pasig River, Sven keyed in the frequency for the Slaughter Dagger pilots.

"Ramon," he said, "take your team and fly over the city. Search from the air; we'll search from the ground."

"Roger," the leather-faced pilot answered. The three Slaughter Daggers leapt into the air and took off over the skyline.

Sven turned back towards the Verde Buster and Blu Duel. "They may be hiding and hoping to ambush us," he said.

"Yeah, yeah," Shams said. "Let's just go. They can't be that good."

——————————————————————————————————————————

The Duel Gundam's cockpit was quiet and dark as it sank into the river. Yzak glanced up towards the surface— there was a bridge overhead, large enough for a mobile suit to walk across. The enemy would undoubtedly be using it— and so it made for a perfect ambush point. Surely they wouldn't think to go dredging the river.

But there were no enemies just yet. Yzak looked around at the dark silhouettes of the empty skyscrapers looming overhead. He glanced over at the Buster, waiting on the riverbed next to the Duel.

"There's no one in this city," he commented. "Weird."

"They abandoned it during the Reconstruction War," Dearka explained. "Gas attack. Tends to clear people out in a hurry. So if you walk around long enough here, you'll probably find something unpleasant."

Yzak looked back up at the bridge. "Well, something unpleasant is about to happen here anyway," he said. "Hopefully whoever _is_ living here had the good sense to leave before we got here."

They both fell silent as something moved on the bank of the river. A Strike Dagger stepped onto the bridge, holding a bazooka, and cast a steely glance over the riverbank. Yzak glanced over at Dearka and nodded; a moment later, he squeezed off a railgun shot that lanced out of the river and slammed into the Dagger's head, knocking it off the bridge and into the water with a burst of fire.

The Duel Gundam lunged out of the river, landing with a crash on the bridge. Yzak snapped his beam rifle into position and opened fire, cutting down the three remaining Strike Daggers before they could react. He glanced back towards the river as the Buster Gundam rose from the water, climbing up onto the bridge.

"I'm sure that'll get somebody's attention," Dearka said.

"Too late now," Yzak answered. "We'll just run around the city and pick them off, one by one."

The Duel tramped forward, beam rifle at the ready, glancing around at the sound of mobile suit footsteps.

"Duck!" Dearka shouted. Yzak instinctively threw the Duel Gundam to the ground— and an instant later, a yellow beam tore over his head and slammed into another Strike Dagger down the street. "Shit, look at the scopes…we really pissed 'em off now."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation battleship _Mephistopheles_**

"Captain," Murphy reported from the CIC, "the enemy ship is coming up in front of us, at 6000 meters."

Lee eyed the imposing silhouette of the _Megami_ against the morning sky. They had repaired their damage well— perhaps the Junk Guild was involved?

"Captain Todaka, Admiral Tapang," Lee said, glancing at the grim faces of both commanders. "I'm afraid we'll have to go this one alone. We'll try to lure the enemy into the range of your guns."

Tapang gave Lee a curt nod— Lee nodded back, and the screen went dark.

"Ronald," Lee added, glancing over at the weapons officer. "I'm aware that you can't easily control our ordnance once you discharge it. But I would rather appreciate it if you try to minimize the damage to the city."

"Yes sir," Ronald answered, looking somewhat taken aback. Lee looked back towards the _Megami._ That ship's captain was a skilled one, but Lee would not see himself defeated again.

"We're in firing range, sir," Eric reported from the CIC. "They've launched missiles!"

"Igelstellungs, open fire," Lee ordered. The _Mephistopheles_' Igelstellung guns sprang to life, picking the _Megami_'s missiles out of the sky before they could come close. Lee watched carefully as the _Megami_ banked up into the air, leveling off its ventral Gottfried cannon. "Hard to port!" The _Mephistopheles_ lurched aside as the _Megami_ opened fire, its beam salvo barely missing. "Gottfrieds, return fire!"

The shots sailed by the _Megami_ as it slowly pitched back down towards the ground. Lee watched his foe carefully as it swung around for another pass. One way or another, it would end here.

"Sir, the Valiants are ready to fire!" Ronald reported.

"Good! Put a shot off their bow, pitch fifteen degrees!" Lee answered. "We'll push them towards the fleet, and they won't stand a chance!" The _Mephistopheles_ swung into position, Valiants at the ready. "Valiants, _fire!_"

Twin railgun shells lanced out towards the _Megami_, which swept down towards the city to dodge them, and abruptly pulled up to avoid crashing into a skyscraper.

"Sledgehammers, track them!" Lee commanded. The _Mephistopheles_' missile tubes roared, sending a flurry of missiles streaking down towards the fleeing _Megami_. Lee scowled as the _Megami_ cut his missiles out of the sky with a CIWS burst of their own. "Don't let them turn! Gottfrieds, keep them on their current course!"

The Gottfrieds blazed, pounding a quartet of thick, pulsing beam shots by the _Megami_'s sides. The Valiants fired again over the _Megami_'s top, forcing it to descend. An instant later, it banked aside to dodge another skyscraper— and this time the _Megami_'s portside wing plowed through the skyscraper, sending the top of the tower tumbling down into the street with a cloud of dust in its wake.

"There's nothing they can do now!" Lee shouted. "They're on their way to the fleet! Stay on them!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

Athrun cursed as the Justice Gundam quaked, pounded by a volley of missiles. A trio of Dagger Ls charged towards him, beam carbines drawn, and opened fire— Athrun slapped the shots aside with his beam rifle and took off towards the city surface, weaving in between the skyscrapers. The Daggers followed at a cautious distance, slamming beam shots into the towers and showering the Justice with glass and debris.

"Dammit," Athrun grunted, "these guys are persistent…"

The Justice whirled around to squeeze off a shot towards the Daggers. They split up to dodge the shot, firing back with their own beam rifles. Athrun somersaulted into the air, barely passing over another tower. He cut the engines as he did, landing on top of the tower and falling to one knee, taking cover behind a faded billboard. The Daggers fired again— Athrun protected himself behind his shield as the shots lanced through the billboard. The Daggers roared by over he Justice's head, turning around for another pass— before they could, Athrun squeezed off a single beam shot to take out one of the Dagger Ls, blasting it out of the sky with a flash of fire.

"Two more," he muttered. The Justice vaulted into the air to dodge the remaining two Daggers' return shots, racing up into the air. One of the Daggers charged up after him, drawing its beam saber and stabbing forward towards the Justice's cockpit. Athrun expertly parried the blow with his shield— but an instant later, the second Dagger lunged up over the Justice's head, beam carbine leveled.

Athrun narrowed his eyes and kicked off the first Dagger's shield, roaring backwards to dodge the second Dagger's finishing volley. The first one reeled under the force of the Justice's kick— Athrun seized his chance and squeezed off a beam rifle shot of his own, drilling it through the Dagger's cockpit and wiping it out with a blaze. Before the second Dagger could react, the Justice went rocketing up into the air, CIWS guns blazing, and tore the Dagger's carbine from its hand.

"_Now_ what?!" Athrun snapped, as the Dagger drew its saber and charged. Athrun backed away, switching to his own beam saber, and brought it down with a crash on the Dagger's shield. The Justice rocked as the Dagger slammed its own saber viciously against the Justice's shield, nearly pushing it back.

The Dagger surged forward, pushing the Justice back and raising its saber to attack again. Athrun charged, seizing his opportunity, and drove his own saber through the Dagger's cockpit, slicing it in two at the waist.

The bisected Dagger exploded behind Athrun as he deactivated his saber and took up his beam rifle again. He glanced towards the harbor, where the _Megami_ was under fire from the _Mephistopheles— _but more beam fire distracted him. He glanced over his shoulder at a pair of charging Dagger Ls, and took off towards them.

——————————————————————————————————————————

A withering barrage of artillery shells pounded into the building over Cagalli's head, raining shrapnel down on the Strike Rouge. She ducked underneath her shield and leveled off her bazooka, firing back a shell of her own— but down the street, the two Doppelhorn Dagger Ls firing on her leapt apart, and her shell slammed into another building behind them.

"Dammit," she growled, "they're gonna bring the whole city down on me!" An ominous creaking sound rumbled up from behind the Rouge— she looked over her shoulder in shock as the skyscraper began to topple forward over its demolished base. "Shit!"

The Strike Rouge dove aside as the building came down with a crash, casting a pall of dust over the battlefield. Cagalli quickly scrambled to her feet, taking cover behind her shield as more debris pelted the Rouge mercilessly.

Another volley of shells slammed into her from her unprotected side, knocking her backward. She looked around urgently for her attackers, but the dust was too thick to see anything.

"They're gonna kill me at this rate!" she snapped. The Strike Rouge whirled around and ducked into the ruined foundation of the skyscraper— an instant later, the ground gave way beneath her, plunging her down into the darkness.

Cagalli shook her head and glanced around her surroundings. It seemed to be an underground parking garage, but appropriately, it looked as though it had just had a high-rise knocked over on top of it. It had enough levels to allow her machine some semblance of movement, but the margin for error was thin. And as she peered through the darkness, there wasn't much to hide behind.

"Damn this thing," she grumbled. "Pink is about the least camouflaging color I can think of."

The Strike Rouge took cover behind a fallen pillar. Cagalli glanced down at her bazooka and ejected one of the empty clips, leaving her with three more clips, eighteen shells. She looked back up at the sound of mobile suits— the Doppelhorn Daggers were descending into the ruined garage, gingerly stepping around fallen debris and glancing around, beam carbines at the ready.

"Well," she said to herself, "hopefully this won't be too hard…"

Cagalli raised her bazooka— the Daggers glanced over at her. She clenched her teeth as they trained their guns on her—

An instant later, she engaged the Aile pack's booster and fired her bazooka, plowing a shell into the creaking ceiling and rocketing out of the garage. A thunderous crash rang through the air as the garage, and the thousands of tons of concrete hanging overhead, came smashing down…and two more blasts signaled the end of the two Daggers.

Cagalli whirled around, landing with a crash as the building collapsed into its own basement, and heaved a sigh of relief.

——————————————————————————————————————————

"Well, maybe I'm getting too close," Andy grunted as the Aegis Gundam rocked under a hail of debris. He glanced around at his surroundings— he was in Manila's massive port, being shot at by a handful of vessels in the harbor. One of them, a _Kuraokami_-class cruiser by the looks of it, was getting awfully close, gleefully shredding the port's rusting equipment with blasts from its twin deck cannon.

Andy scowled through the flying shrapnel and opened fire on the ship as he leapt out of the shadow of a large crane. The ship pelted him in return with CIWS shots, as his own beam blast was knocked wide of the ship.

"I got a better idea anyway," he muttered, rocketing away from the vessel. He swung his beam rifle into position and squeezed off a shot at the base of the crane— a cloud of fire rose up around it, knocking it over, and with a sickening crash, it slammed down along the length of the cruiser's hull, silencing it.

Andy allowed himself a satisfied smile as he landed in front of a warehouse. A wave of missiles came down around him— the Aegis leapt backwards behind its shield, firing back with its CIWS guns to cut down a second wave. Andy looked up in surprise and found four black Jet Dagger Ls cruising towards him, beam carbines in hand.

"You guys again," he grumbled.

Across the harbor, inside his Dark Dagger L, Rico Barbosa flashed a grin. "There he is," he cackled. "I've been looking forward to this! Carlos, Kingston, Oliver, let's go!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_**

"Hard to port!" Murrue shouted. "Evasive action!"

The _Megami_ groaned in protest as the ship strained to dodge a vicious hail of artillery shells. Down below, in the harbor, a flotilla of warships from the Equatorial Union and the Orb Navy were blasting away at the _Megami_ as it desperately twisted out of their line of fire. Murrue cast an urgent glance back at the _Mephistopheles_ as it cruised in after them, Gottfrieds blasting away furiously.

"Dammit," she growled, "they've got us trapped!" The _Megami_ quaked under a near miss from an anti-ship missile. "And that _Archangel_ is still on our tail!"

"Two _Aegis_-class approaching from starboard!" Chandra exclaimed. "Captain— "

"Turn us to starboard and target the enemy fleet!" Murrue snapped. The bridge crew blinked disbelievingly at her. "We'll fight them head on! They won't see it coming!"

"Captain, I can't dodge dozens of guns at one time with this ship!" Neumann protested.

"Well, you'll have to try!" Murrue shot back. "They've set up their attack so well…move us into firing range!"

The _Megami_ banked hard to the right, swiveling its Gottfried cannons into position. A pair of _Fraser_ frigates, flanked by a _Danilov_ destroyer and a _Kuraokami_ cruiser.

"Targets acquired!" Romero announced.

Murrue eyed the four ships carefully for a moment— they would make for a good enough start. "_Fire!_"

The four Gottfrieds blazed, pummeling the four ships and sending the two _Fraser_-class frigates and the _Kuraokami_-class straight to the bottom of the harbor. The _Danilov_ listed helplessly for a moment under the force of the blasts, before a second shot from the ventral Gottfried blasted it apart.

The rest of the fleet momentarily fell silent— Murrue looked back up towards the rest of the ships as they sat waiting in the harbor. Another volley of Gottfried shots sailed over the _Megami— _the _Mephistopheles_ came roaring in from behind, guns blazing.

"Return fire against the _Archangel_-class!" she ordered. "We'll take another pass at the fleet later!"

The _Megami_ banked again towards the _Mephistopheles_. Murrue glanced back at the fleet, and then back at the enemy in front of her— there was far too much riding on this for her to fail again.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Another M1 Astray went down in flames and died with a thunderous blast as Mwu whirled around, beam rifle in hand, and picked it off from across the street. The remaining Strike Daggers and M1s scattered, ducking behind their shields as the debris of their comrades rained down on them.

"Beaten by a two-year-old machine," Mwu chuckled. "Whaddya boys have to say for yourselves?"

A beam shot from a Strike Dagger came back in reply. Mwu slapped it aside with his shield, returning fire with his own rifle and picking the Dagger off before it could react. The blast rattled a nearby skyscraper, and with a hideous screech, it began to collapse in on itself, coming down with a crash on top of the Daggers and M1s. One of the M1s staggered out of the dust cloud— Mwu leveled off his rifle and fired, picking it off before it could raise its own beam rifle.

The street fell silent for a moment, and Mwu risked a look around. Overhead, the smoke and blasts from the air battle were still peppering the sky, but from that alone, there was no telling how that battle was going. And the mobile suits on the ground had all assumed radio silence in order to get the jump as much as possible among their numerous foes, all of whom were trying to coordinate a search, and being blown up in the process.

Also of note was the strange thinning of the ranks of Manila's skyscraper forest. Mwu supposed that a mobile suit melee in a crowded urban zone would do that, but hopefully any inhabitants were already somewhere safe…because Manila certainly was not.

Another M1 Astray emerged from behind another building; the Strike vaulted up into the air and fired back down with its beam rifle, picking off the M1 from above. Mwu shook his head, wondering if they were getting anywhere.

——————————————————————————————————————————

"Don't get in my way!" Yzak snapped, as the Duel Gundam drove its beam saber into a Strike Dagger's cockpit to the hilt. The impaled machine staggered back, and Yzak turned away to deflect another shot as the Dagger exploded. A second Dagger opened fire from down the street, but an instant later, it was blown away by a beam shot from the Buster Gundam.

"We've blown up a couple dozen of these things," Dearka grunted, scanning the area for more enemies. "They'll run out sooner or later!"

Yzak whirled around as a third Dagger emerged from around a building, but it fell to a railgun shell from the Duel before it could open fire. He turned again as the alarms blared, and instinct took over as he leapt away from the Buster, seeing it do likewise.

Both Gundams landed with a crash and looked up towards the top of yet another building, where, standing with arms spread and beam guns deployed and trained on the Duel and Buster, stood the Blu Duel.

Inside, Mudie scowled down at the two mobile suits. "There you are," she sneered. "You've been causing a lot of trouble."

Yzak narrowed his eyes at the Blu Duel— it immediately fired both its beam guns at the Duel, and Yzak leapt backwards to dodge the blasts, returning fire with his beam rifle. The Blu Duel vaulted off the top of the building after the Duel.

"Yzak!" Dearka shouted. He combined his rifles and took aim at the Blu Duel, but a pair of beam shots from above forced him back, and he looked up in disbelief back at the building.

Inside the Verde Buster, Shams grinned triumphantly. "Not so fast, wannabe," he laughed. "You're tangoing with me."

Dearka clenched his teeth as he scanned over the Verde Buster. "What the hell is this!?" he exclaimed. "An upgraded Buster?!"

Shams grinned as the Verde Buster stepped forward, positioning itself at the edge of the roof and combining his beam rifles. "Besides," he added, "I've been looking forward to a good fight."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Equatorial Union _Spengler_-class aircraft carrier _Sukarno_**

Tapang cursed under his breath as the _Sukarno_ rocked under a near miss by one of the _Megami_'s massive anti-ship missiles.

"Admiral!" one of the officers cried. "The _Colombo_ is reporting heavy damage!"

"I know!" Tapang snapped. "Order the ships to evade at flank speed! We can't afford to lose anymore ships!"

He glared up at the _Megami_ as it soared over his fleet, spewing firepower into the water and towards his desperate, writhing warships. Its mobile suits were somewhere in Manila, but—

Another one of his _Fraser_-class frigates was split in two by a winnowing beam cannon blast from the _Megami_, and vanished beneath the waves with a flash of fire. Tapang cursed again.

"Admiral, the _Mekong_ has been sunk!" one of the officers reported. "The enemy ship is targeting the _Mumbai!_"

Tapang shot a bitter glance towards the Orb fleet. The _Yatenkou_ had yet to take a significant hit, but several of Todaka's ships were already at the bottom of the harbor. And the _Mephistopheles_ didn't appear to be having any better luck— despite its dogged pursuit of the _Megami_, the enemy's superior maneuverability and firepower was making minced meat of the combined Equatorial and Orb fleets.

And, he added angrily, there was the _John Paul Jones_, which had disgorged its mobile suits and then crawled back for the safety of distance, waiting offshore for Tapang to ride his flagship into the depths. He scowled over at the Atlantic Federation carrier, wondering why they weren't braving the enemy's fire.

"Orders, sir?!" one of the officers asked.

Tapang looked back at the _Megami_ as it passed by overhead, dodging fire from the Orb fleet. "Move the _Dhaka_ in behind them and fire at their engines!" Tapang shouted.

Inexorably, as the _Megami_ swung over the battlefield, the _Danilov_-class destroyer swerved to follow. Its forward cannon boomed, and a shell lanced by the _Megami_'s starboard engine— but an instant later, a blast from its ventral beam cannon vaporized the destroyer's bow, taking its main cannon with it.

"Dammit!" Tapang growled. "Continue a barrage with the CIWS! We'll wear that armor down yet!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

The ground quaked as Mwu finished off another Strike Dagger with his beam saber, shoving the sparking corpse away. It toppled backwards into the Pasig River and exploded, throwing a column of water into the air and bringing it back down like rain. The Strike Gundam leapt up again to dodge a beam barrage from a pair of M1 Astrays; Mwu switched to his beam rifle and speared them both on a pair of beam shots, coming back down with a crash and whirling around to shoot down one last Strike Dagger.

Mwu glanced around at his surroundings again. He had the Pasig River on his right, leading towards the sea; he was somewhere on the south side of the river. Through the towers of steel and towers of smoke, he could make out a thick black cloud rising from the sea, and for a moment, he saw the _Megami_ pass over the ocean, pursued tenaciously by the _Mephistopheles_.

"Shit," he grunted, "I'd better go help them— "

A pair of beam blasts came down at his feet, pushing the Strike Gundam back. Mwu took cover behind his shield, raising his rifle, and down the street he saw the forbidding shape of another mobile suit.

"Wait a minute," he muttered, "that's not like the others…"

Down the street, inside the Strike Noir, with one beam pistol-toting arm outstretched, Sven Cal Bayan narrowed his eyes at the Strike Gundam.

"Target acquired," he said tonelessly. The Strike Noir opened fire again— the Strike Gundam jetted to the side. Inside the Strike, Mwu blinked in surprise as the Strike Noir lunged through an opening, firing with two beam pistols.

"Pistols?!" he exclaimed, deflecting the shots with his shield and firing back with his rifle. The Strike Noir rocketed aside and continued its beam barrage. "Dammit! He doesn't even have a shield!" The Strike ducked behind a building as beam shots ripped up the street and the adjacent high-rise. "He's fast!"

More beam shots ripped through the building the Strike was taking cover behind, so Mwu leapt out into the open behind his shield. A hail of beam shots landed against it; Mwu fired to the side, into the street next to the Noir, forcing it to leap aside.

Mwu watched his foe carefully as it landed, and swung both its beam pistols back into position.

——————————————————————————————————————————

"Four against one is hardly fair!" Andy yelled as the Aegis went into a nosedive, pulling up before it crashed and skimming along the grounds of Manila's port. Up above, the four Jet Dagger Ls fired viciously with their beam carbines, shredding the ground in the Aegis's wake.

"Damn him!" Barbosa shouted. "He can't keep dodging forever! Carlos, Oliver, flank the fucker!"

Two of the Daggers peeled off and widened their formation around the other two— Andy ducked another volley of beam shots and dove down into the port's cargo area. Barbosa showered the cargo pallets with CIWS fire; Andy returned fire from the momentary safety of a towering stack of cargo crates. Kingston opened fire with his own beam carbine, ripping the crates apart as the Aegis leapt clear.

"Carlos, Oliver, go!" Barbosa screamed, as his Dagger poured firepower after the Aegis. Andy flashed a grin as the Aegis dove backwards. Oliver's Dagger came screaming in from the right— Andy whirled around to face it, igniting the beam saber on the Aegis's right foot and slicing through a towering cargo crane with a roundhouse kick. The crane came down with a crash on top of Oliver's Dagger, tearing off its Jet Striker and right arm as it staggered under the weight.

"Too late!" Andy shouted— he squeezed off a single beam rifle shot, drilling it through the cockpit of Oliver's Dagger and wiping it out with a blaze.

"Dammit!" Barbosa shouted. "Carlos, Kingston, form up! We'll get him back for Oliver!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

"Where am I?" Cagalli murmured as the Strike Rouge looked around tensely for enemies. "The river's over there…"

Something in the air exploded— Cagalli looked up.

"Well, I can always go up there," she said. The Strike Rouge vaulted up to the top of a skyscraper, whirling around to face the sea, and watching the _Megami_ take on the Orb and Equatorial fleets.

Beam shots came down around her— Cagalli looked up sharply, finding three mobile suits streaking down towards her.

Inside the leading Slaughter Dagger, a wicked grin came to Ramon's lined face. "Bill, Martin," he said, "that's one of their MS. Form up and we'll take it down together."

"Roger," they answered.

Down below, Cagalli steeled herself and drew her beam rifle as the Slaughter Daggers opened fire again. She leapt up off the skyscraper's roof as the beams came down, and took off into the air, firing back. The Daggers split their formation to dodge her shots with practiced ease and returned fire.

"Dammit," Cagalli grunted, "don't tell me they're not just grunts!" She cut the thrusters to plunge back towards the city— the Daggers followed.

——————————————————————————————————————————

It seemed as though the very air was on fire as the Justice Gundam sailed through the sky, scanning for enemies. Most of the mobile suits left were on the ground, but those that were still in the air were resolutely refusing to go down. And the _Megami_ was effectively deprived of mobile suits, forcing it to rely on its own devices in fending off several other ships.

Athrun glanced around anxiously, waiting for another attack. The Dagger Ls seemed to be withdrawing under the firepower of the Murasames, but they were far from finished. And there was still—

A beam shot slammed into the tower next to the Justice. Athrun swung his shield up into position, alighting on top of an adjacent tower and scanning the skies. Floating above him, beam rifle raised, was the Diablo Gundam.

"Just as I thought," Athrun growled. "This is the last time I'm going to fight you!"

The Diablo charged; inside, Jack's eyes flashed as he screamed, firing madly with his beam rifle.

"You can't run now!" he screamed. "_You can never run! I'll kill you first!_"

The Justice somersaulted off the tower and took off into the air, firing back with its beam rifle. Letting loose a blood-chilling shriek, Jack blasted off after him.

——————————————————————————————————————————

To be concluded…


	12. Phase 12: When Soldiers Die

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED - Soldiers of Old

——————————————————————————————————————————

Phase 12 - When Soldiers Die

——————————————————————————————————————————

**July 11th, CE 73 - Orb Navy _Aegis_-class battleship _Yatenkou_, Manila, the Philippines**

The _Yatenkou_ quaked as another volley of missiles pounded down into the water around it. Todaka scowled as he clutched the armrests of the captain's chair, steadying himself as smoke and fire flashed around his beleaguered flagship. The Orb fleet, the Equatorial fleet, and the two Atlantic Federation ships all had numerical superiority, but when their enemy was as maneuverable and well-armed as the _Megami_, numerical superiority just meant more targets.

"Bring the ship around! Open fire on my mark!" Todaka shouted. The ship rocked again, but slowly ground forward through the water, as a barrage of missiles slammed into the ocean around it. "Fire!" The _Yatenkou_'s main cannon boomed, sending a volley of shells streaking up into the air…but once again, the _Megami_ slipped past without a scratch, returning fire with a hail of CIWS fire that pounded the _Yatenkou_'s armor.

"Sir, the _Shishiki_ is reporting critical damage!" one of the deckhands exclaimed. Todaka glanced over at the pummeled _Kuraokami_-class as CIWS fire from the _Megami_ shredded one of the _Shishiki_'s own CIWS guns.

"Dammit," he snarled. "Order all heavily-damaged units to retreat! All other ships and mobile suits will continue fighting!"

He looked back up at the _Megami— _the Princess was getting feisty.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Athrun Zala felt his muscles ripple with tension as the missiles pounded against the Justice Gundam's shield. He squinted through the flashing smoke, catching sight of his foe— the Diablo Gundam charged forward, beam rifle blazing.

"Not that way!" Athrun snapped, hacking the cloud apart with his shield and squeezing off a shot of his own. The Diablo batted it aside with its shield, but that was all the time Athrun needed to hurl a beam boomerang down at the Diablo.

"I don't think so!" Jack screamed, throwing his shield back into position. The impact sent the Diablo staggering back— the Justice caught its boomerang on the rebound and charged again, beam cannons blazing. The Diablo ducked down towards the city, letting the Justice's blasts sear overhead. "You're mine!"

The Diablo swung its rifle back up and fired a shot skyward— Athrun clenched as teeth as he sent the Justice hurtling out of the way, leveling off his own rifle and firing back. Inside the Diablo, Jack's eyes widened in disbelief as the Justice's rifle shot pierced the Diablo's rifle.

"Damn you!" Jack screamed, hurling his sparking beam rifle up at the Justice. Athrun swatted it aside with his shield— the Diablo tore a beam saber out of its recharge rack and charged, saber raised high.

"Damn!" Athrun grunted. The Justice dove aside as the Diablo tore past, bringing its saber down with a vicious overhead slash. The Diablo whirled around, and a blaze of machinegun fire lanced out from the Diablo's shield— Athrun's eyes widened in shock as the bullets shredded his beam rifle and sent what was left spiraling down into the city to explode.

"He's got CIWS guns in there too?!" Athrun exclaimed. The Diablo opened fire with its beam cannons— Athrun cut the Justice's thrusters, plunging back down towards the city, and drew both of his beam sabers, connecting them at the ends. The Diablo followed, beam saber raised— Athrun immediately reactivated the engine, stabbing forward with one end of his double saber. The Diablo swung its saber to the side to parry— Athrun brought down the other end on the Diablo's shield with a crash.

"You can't get away!" Jack shrieked. "I'll tear you apart! _I'll tear you apart!_"

——————————————————————————————————————————

The street quaked as the Strike Noir peppered it with beam blasts, standing tall in an intersection and blasting away viciously at the copse of trees where the Aile Strike Gundam was hiding. Inside, Mwu grunted in annoyance as the Strike staggered back under the hail of beam shots.

"This guy's not holding anything back," he muttered. "Well, two can play at that game!"

The Strike Gundam lunged aside, squeezing off a beam rifle shot. The Strike Noir somersaulted over it, but that was all the time Mwu needed to rocket along the street and shower the Noir with another volley.

The Strike Noir ducked behind a skyscraper and fired a rocket anchor into it. Sven narrowed his eyes— the Strike Noir yanked on the anchor cable, ripping the superstructure apart and sending the tower toppling over. Mwu's eyes went wide in disbelief, as instinct kicked in and he sent the Strike hurtling along the street to safety. The building came down with a bone-jarring crash, throwing a massive cloud of dust and debris into the air; the Strike dropped to one knee as chunks of steel and concrete slammed against its shield.

Mwu peered anxiously through the cloud to find the Strike Noir standing amid the rubble, eyes shining brightly.

"Well, aren't you subtle," Mwu growled. The Noir drew both of its pistols and fired again— the Strike lunged into the air to dodge the shots and return fire. The Noir took off, pistols blazing, somersaulting up into the Strike's face. Mwu blinked in surprise— an instant later, the Noir sent him spiraling back towards the ground with a punishing roundhouse kick to the face.

The Strike skidded to a halt in an intersection as the Strike Noir landed down the street. It drew a pair of swords from its wings, igniting beam blades on both of them.

"What's this…?" Mwu grunted. "This guy's crazy…"

The Strike switched to its own saber, and stood firm as the Noir raised its swords and charged.

——————————————————————————————————————————

"I can't shake them!" Cagalli cried, as the Strike Rouge spiraled through the air with three Slaughter Daggers hot on its heels. She whirled around to take aim with her beam rifle, but more blasts came at her instead, forcing her back behind her shield. "Dammit!"

Inside the lead Slaughter Dagger, Ramon glanced at his wingmen. "He's not going down," he muttered. "Bill, Martin, flank him! He can't block us from three angles at once!"

The Daggers rocketed apart as they approached a skyscraper. Cagalli watched them go tensely and roared straight for the tower. The Daggers opened fire again; Cagalli sent the Rouge into a nosedive, careening down towards the street and pulling up at the last second to skim along the street, firing back up at the Daggers. They dodged her shots expertly and returned fire, sending shards of glass and steel raining down the Rouge.

"He's heading for the river, sir!" Martin reported, as the Daggers formed up again. Ramon ground his teeth.

"He must be trying to get to the enemy ship," he said. "Intercept him at the bridge!"

Bill and Martin's Daggers rocketed up overhead, as Ramon descended into the city, beam rifle blazing. Cagalli made a hard left at an intersection, arcing around another high-rise and diving into a mushrooming dust cloud. She glanced down at her infrared displays, but the sunlight had warmed everything— infrared displays would be useless.

"I'm going to need more firepower," she grunted, guiding the Rouge through the dust and around the dim shapes that she assumed were buildings. "Gotta get to the _Megami_…"

The dust vanished in a moment— Cagalli yelped in surprise as she found two of the Daggers standing tall on a bridge in front of her. Before she could dodge, they opened fire, and the Rouge shuddered as its beam rifle was torn from its hand.

"Dammit!" Cagalli shouted. "My rifle!" The Strike Rouge took off over the Daggers' heads— they backflipped into the air and joined their comrade, firing after her.

——————————————————————————————————————————

"Pandacan Oil Depot?!" Yzak read angrily from the digital map on his cockpit display. "An oil refinery?!"

Beam shots lanced by the Duel Gundam as Yzak crouched behind his shield. He looked back up towards his attacker— the Blu Duel stalked forward, beam guns raised.

"Well, fine," Yzak snapped. "Follow me, asshole!"

The Duel Gundam sprang to its feet, unleashing a hail of missiles. The Blu Duel stood back, firing away with its CIWS guns to cut them down. Yzak turned and rushed into the oil depot, ducking beneath a pipeline and whirling around to face his adversary. One wrong move in here might ignite a firestorm but his enemy was just as much at risk as he was, so ideally that would even the odds.

Inside the Blu Duel, Mudie glanced around at her surroundings. It was a 21st century oil refinery— and if there was still flammable material in the tanks, a resourceful fighter would be able to create an inferno that no Phase Shift armor could resist for long.

Yzak drew his beam saber— the Blu Duel did likewise, and lunged forward, saber raised high over its head. The Duel fell to one knee and stabbed forward with its own saber, but the Blu Duel parried the blow with expert precision, ramming the Duel with its shield and sending Yzak stumbling back. The Blu Duel stepped back, firing a railgun shot that slammed into the Duel's shield with a nerve-wracking flash of fire.

"Are you crazy?!" Yzak snapped. "You'll set off all the oil!"

Mudie looked up over the Duel's head— hanging perilously over it was a huge tank, hopefully full of oil. The Duel charged towards its foe, beam saber raised, passing right under the tank.

"Fool!" Mudie snapped; the Blu Duel squeezed a shot off into one of the struts connecting the tank to a tangle of pipes overhead. The tank pitched downward, ripping open from the force of the blow and spilling thick black oil onto the Duel Gundam.

"What the— !" Yzak shouted— the Blu Duel hurled three objects from its left-hand shoulder armor, wedging them into the ground at Yzak's feet. Before he could react, they exploded— and the Duel was engulfed in flames. "_Shit!_ He ignited the oil!"

The Blu Duel took a prudent step back as the Duel staggered backward, flames curling up off its armor. Yzak looked around in panic, wracking his mind for a solution to a flaming mobile suit—

The Pasig River loomed behind him. Yzak threw his burning mobile suit towards it. Mudie frowned at her fleeing foe and raised her beam gun, but the now-empty oil tank came crashing down from the vibration of the Duel's harried footsteps, blocking her shot. The Duel leapt towards the river, spiraling in midair to try to quell the flames, and splashed into the water.

"Dammit," Mudie hissed, scanning the riverbank for the spot where the Duel would return. "Well, he can't get far. Not after all that fire damage."

On the riverbed, Yzak breathed a momentary sigh of relief. The fire had gone out as he drowned it in the river, and the oil had sloughed off his machine's blackened armor, rising to the surface. He whirled around underwater and looked up— the Blu Duel was looming at the river's edge.

"Now you've pissed me off," Yzak snarled. He gunned the booster, and the Duel Gundam lunged out of the water, igniting its beam saber as soon as it was clear— and with a tooth-jarring crash, Yzak brought his saber down on the Blu Duel's shield. "You're not gonna fool me again!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

A hail of empty cargo crates came smashing down around the Aegis Gundam as Andy struggled to put some distance between himself and Barbosa's Dark Dagger team. The Dark Daggers were firing on empty cargo containers, toppling over as much debris as possible in the crowded port to try to pin the Aegis down. But Andy would have none of that— he couldn't be fooled that easily.

The Aegis squeezed off a beam rifle shot as it darted past another heavy crane, toppling it over in front of the Daggers. As they skirted around the heavy machinery, Andy leveled off his rifle and fired again, blowing off the right arm of one of the Daggers. It staggered back under the blow— Andy ticked his rifle to the side and fired again, blasting the Dagger out of the sky.

"Kingston!" Barbosa shouted. His own Dagger ducked the debris from Kingston's Dagger, firing back at the Aegis with its beam carbine. "Dammit! Keep on him, Carlos! I'll hit him from behind!"

Barbosa's Dagger rocketed up over the port machinery, firing down from above with its own carbine. Andy cut the Aegis's thrusters and ignited his beam saber, waiting for Carlos's charging Dagger and swinging his saber into its waist, sawing it in two as it passed.

"I can't believe this!" Barbosa screamed. "_Every_ pilot?!" The Dagger leveled off its own carbine, firing back, but the Aegis ducked down into the port machinery to escape.

"Now it's a little fairer!" Andy chuckled, expertly guiding the Aegis among the girders. "Come and get me, buddy! I'm not the Desert Tiger for nothing!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

The street below the Buster Gundam's feet disappeared in a shower of concrete and a cloud of fire and smoke as Dearka's foe, the hulking Verde Buster, pummeled the street with blasts from both of its beam rifles. Dearka ducked behind a building, but the Verde Buster, from its vantage point atop an office building, poured firepower into Dearka's momentary hiding place, shredding the superstructure and threatening to send the building crashing down around them.

"This guy's insane!" Dearka exclaimed. "Is he trying to bring the whole city down on me?!"

The Buster lunged out of its hiding place and squeezed off a shot from its beam cannon at the top of the tower where the Verde Buster stood— but the shot sailed under the Verde Buster's feet as the newer mobile suit vaulted into the air, deploying bayonets at the ends of its beam rifles and came down into the street with a crash, right in front of the Buster.

Dearka stormed forward as the Verde Buster reeled from the shock of the landing, and sent his foe sprawling with a bone-rattling punch across the face. He reared back for another blow, but the Verde Buster recovered and charged back at the Buster, leveling off one of its bayonets for a killing stab.

"You're mine!" Shams shouted, as the Verde Buster closed in.

"I don't think so!" Dearka shot back. The Buster leapt back to its feet and unleashed a full volley of missiles right into the Verde Buster's face at point-blank range, sending both mobile suits staggering away from each other.

Dearka rounded a corner, coming face to face with two Strike Daggers. A devastating punch across the face sent the Dagger sprawling, and Dearka quickly seized its beam rifle and pumped a shot into the fallen machine's torso before it could react. The second Dagger backpedaled behind its shield, passing under a monorail track— Dearka shot the support columns out, bringing the track down on top of the Dagger with a crash. With a satisfying grin, Dearka marched his machine over to the crushed machine and picked up its rifle too, pulling it out of the arm that protruded from the wreck.

"That's better," Dearka said, hefting both of the beam rifles and turning to face the direction he had come from. "Now let's find that bastard with the shiny rip-off of my machine."

——————————————————————————————————————————

Another bridge came down with a crash as the Strike Noir ruthlessly hacked its way through the streets of Manila, chasing the retreating Aile Strike Gundam. Sven narrowed his eyes at his fleeing foe— the Strike was trying to avoid inflicting massive property damage, but that would be his undoing.

Sven targeted the buildings along the sides of the streets with his CIWS guns, opening fire and sending a hail of broken glass and concrete down on the Strike. As the buildings crumbled, the Strike slammed on the brakes, whirling around in midair with its saber drawn. Sven cut the thrusters, bringing both of his swords down with a crash, digging two deep grooves into the Strike's shield.

"Those things won't last forever," Sven grunted. "Not with the mass behind my swords."

The Noir swung its left-hand sword again, but the Strike's beam saber was there to block it. Before Sven could react, the Strike Gundam fired the boosters in the Aile pack, throwing the Strike Noir back on its heels. As Sven struggled to regain his balance, the Strike charged, beam saber raised— the Noir barely ducked underneath the Strike's blow, and plowed into the Strike with its shoulder.

The Aile Strike staggered back, threw its beam saber up to deflect the Noir's follow-up sword slash, and took off backward again. Sven fired up the booster to pursue, returning both of his blades to the Noir Striker's wings.

"There's more than one way to bring you down," Sven growled, "and your Phase Shift can't block everything."

As the two Gundams passed under another overpass, Sven fired both of his hand anchors into the bridge's two support columns. Tearing the bridge off its supports, the Strike Noir hurled the massive slab of concrete straight at the intersection that the Aile Strike was approaching. The Strike ducked to the side— but the Noir was there to cut off the escape route with its beam guns, forcing the Strike back to the ground as the bridge plowed into the street, throwing up an immense pall of dust.

The Strike Gundam, beam saber in hand, charged straight at the Noir— only for Sven to draw his blades and block the attack.

The Strike Gundam, it seemed, was living up to its reputation.

——————————————————————————————————————————

"_Megami!_" Cagalli shouted, as the Strike Rouge streaked through the air, with three Slaughter Daggers in hot pursuit. "This is Cagalli! I need support; I'm heading for your position, ETA 120 seconds!"

Miriallia's image on the Rouge's screen quivered as the _Megami_ took a near-miss missile hit. "You'll have to specify, ma'am," she answered. "We've got our hands full too."

The Strike Rouge spiraled out of the way of a volley of beam shots, ducking down and hooking around a skyscraper. "A weapon would be nice!" Cagalli grunted, glancing hurriedly at her pursuers as they diligently arced around the tower after her. "They took out my beam rifle and my bazooka went dry!"

"All we can have ready is the Grand Slam sword," Milly answered. "Unless you want to wait for another weapon, you're going to have to make do with that."

"Fine!" Cagalli shot back— the Strike Rouge ducked between a pair of towers, rattling as the Aile pack's wings scraped painfully against the sides of the buildings. "Just have the thing ready! These guys are gonna tear me apart!"

The Strike Rouge burst out of the shadows of the skyline, deflecting a pair of beam shots with its shield. In the cockpit of his own Dagger, Ramon frowned as he saw the _Megami_ in the distance, under fire and approaching fast.

"He's heading back to the ship," Bill said. "Is he trying to retreat?"

"Or rearm," Martin added. "Orders, sir?"

Ramon flashed a feral grin. "This is our chance to prove the power of the Phantom Pain!" he cried. "Martin, you take the mobile suit; Bill, you and I will attack the ship!"

The Slaughter Daggers split up. Cagalli watched nervously as she approached the _Megami_, the central catapult doors opening up.

"There's no time to land," Milly instructed, "so we're launching the sword on the central catapult! Be ready to catch it!"

A beam blast nearly took off the Strike Rouge's head— Cagalli jetted backwards, glancing to the side, and opened fire with her CIWS on Martin's Slaughter Dagger as he came cruising in with a volley of beam shots. The Dagger spiraled aside, putting itself between the _Megami_ and the Strike Rouge, beam rifle leveled and ready to fire. Overhead, the other two Daggers were approaching the _Megami_.

"We're being attacked!" Milly exclaimed. "Ma'am— "

"_Launch the sword!_" Cagalli snapped.

The catapult fired. The sword came streaking out of the _Megami_'s central catapult, blade pointed forward. Martin glanced over his shoulder quizzically, and his eyes flashed in horror—

The Strike Rouge's Grand Slam sword stabbed through the Slaughter Dagger's back, ramming its way through the cockpit and impaling the Dagger on the blade. The Strike Rouge somersaulted over the stricken Dagger, yanking the sword out of the dying Dagger's torso, and charged towards the other two.

"Commander!" Bill exclaimed. "I've lost contact with Martin— "

He glanced to the side, and never had time to scream as Cagalli cleaved his mobile suit in two with her sword. She whirled around as the vivisected Dagger exploded behind her, turning her eyes on the last Dagger.

"I don't believe it!" Ramon cried, as the Strike Rouge charged with an upraised sword. "Two pilots, that quickly?!"

The Slaughter Dagger backed away, firing its beam rifle. Cagalli deflected the shots with her shield, ducking under Ramon's second volley, and slashed his beam rifle in two. Ramon abandoned the ruined weapon and backpedaled, drawing his beam saber.

"Come on, you bastard," he growled, "let's do this the hard way!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

The Justice Gundam rocked as the Diablo Gundam brought its saber down again onto the Justice's shield. Already the blackened lines of near misses with their beam sabers scarred the two Gundams, but so far the damage was merely cosmetic— and Athrun's patience was wearing thin. He couldn't afford to sit here and spar with the Diablo all day— the others needed him throughout the city.

The Diablo attacked again, this time cleaving off the Justice's left-hand beam boomerang. Athrun cursed as the boomerang dropped down into the sea, and swung back with his own double-saber, slicing off the Diablo's two beam cannons. The Diablo backed away, its severed cannons throwing sparks, and opened fire with its shield-mounted CIWS guns again— but this time, Athrun stormed through the hail of bullets, stabbing forward with his saber, and only a timely parry saved the Diablo from destruction.

"I can't keep doing this forever," Athrun grunted. "So I have to finish you off quick!"

The Justice Gundam surged forward, driving the Diablo back. It flailed its free arms and legs wildly, and knocked the Justice's shield from its arm, but with a scream, Athrun roared forward and managed to sever the Diablo's left arm at the elbow, sending its shield spiraling into the water.

The Diablo responded by firing its own engines, throwing the Justice back, and before Athrun could react, the Diablo had severed the Justice's left leg below the knee. Athrun drew back, cursing, but his persistent foe charged after him.

"No more of this shit!" Athrun snapped. "Something has to give!"

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_**

"Captain! Enemy fleet is beginning to retreat!" Chandra exclaimed from his station on the _Megami_'s bridge.

"Shall we pursue?" Neumann asked from the helm.

Murrue stopped herself from letting out a sigh of relief. The Orb and Equatorial fleets were pulling back with heavy damage, but the _Mephistopheles_ was still blasting away from behind them as tenaciously as ever, and something had to be done before the _Mephistopheles_ scored a hit.

"We can't effectively target them when they're like this…" she muttered. "Neumann, can you turn us around?"

"Not without them following," Neumann warned. "We'll have to try something fancy to get them off our tail."

Murrue glanced up in frustration at the pursuing warship. "An Immelmann turn!" she exclaimed. "Neumann! Can you do that?"

"In this thing?" Neumann echoed. The _Megami_ rocked under another near miss from the _Mephistopheles_. "Maybe in a Spearhead, but it would be hard in a battleship! We'd have to reprogram the engine regulator computers to give us enough thrust to push straight up!" The _Megami_ rocked again, this time as missiles exploded around the ship amid a hail of CIWS fire. "And we'd be inverted too!"

"That's what I'm hoping for!" Murrue replied. "We'll shoot back with all of our dorsal weapons, and maybe we can bring him down that way!"

The _Megami_ banked to the starboard side to dodge another Gottfried volley. "Then somebody's going to have to reprogram the engine regulators," Neumann answered. "I can't do it from here."

Sai abruptly stood up from his station near the back of the bridge. "I'll do it." He glanced over at Neumann. "Feed me all the information. I'll be back in a minute."

Before anyone could say anything, Sai was already out the door.

——————————————————————————————————————————

As the very floor on which he ran shook, Sai briefly wondered whether he had just lost his mind, racing down the corridors of a warship in battle, and heading for the engine room to reprogram the engines, in order to perform an antiquated aerial dogfighting maneuver that hadn't been widely used in combat since World War I. But that was his job, and damned if he wasn't going to do it.

Sai rounded a corner, and again the _Megami_ shook, throwing him to the floor. He grunted in pain as he started to get back to his feet. A hand was there in front of him to help him up— he looked up at its owner, and blinked in surprise as he found himself face to face with Lacus Clyne.

"What are you doing out here?" Sai exclaimed, scrambling back to his feet. "It's dangerous out here!"

Lacus steadied herself against the wall as the ship quaked again. "I don't think it's safe anywhere," she answered. "And the same could be said of you. Where are you going?"

"The engine room!" Sai answered. "I have to reprogram a computer!" He glanced down the hallway. "Come with me, it's too dangerous to wander around the halls in battle!"

Sai sprinted back down the halls as the ship seemed to stabilize, with Lacus in tow, and ducked through a bulkhead into the _Megami_'s cavernous engine room. The noise and heat were stifling— Sai beat his way through a cloud of steam and arrived at the nearest computer terminal, keying in the line to the bridge.

"I'm in the engine room!" he exclaimed. "Neumann, send me the new values!"

One of the side screens began to flash with values, and Sai set to work. "A ship like this isn't meant to perform an Immelmann turn," Neumann warned. "You'll have to manually trigger the thrust sequence from down there. I'll let you know when. I'm counting on you."

"Yeah, no pressure," Sai answered.

"What are you trying to do?" Lacus asked, holding on to the back of Sai's chair as the ship took another near miss.

"Roll the ship up over the enemy's head and attack from above," Sai explained bitterly. "And if I screw this up, the thrust sequences will tear the engines apart!" He shook his head. "Why did I volunteer to do this?! I'm not a Coordinator, I can't do this!"

"Now is not the time for doubting yourself," Lacus pointed out. Sai glanced in exasperation at her— calm as ever, even as she sweated and waited in the stifling engine room.

"I'm not Kira," Sai said.

Lacus put her hands comfortingly on his shoulders. "No," she said, "you're Sai." She pressed a kiss to his lips, and turned his eyes back towards the screen.

Sai finished the reprogramming with flushed cheeks and reconnected the line to the bridge.

"Neumann, are you guys ready yet!?" Sai snapped. "It's hot as hell down here!"

On the bridge, Murrue glanced at Neumann and nodded.

"We're going to invert the ship," he said, "so buckle up! Initiate the sequence on my mark!"

Sai glanced at Lacus; settled into the chair next to his, watching him patiently as he seized the final switch.

Neumann grimaced. "_Now!_"

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Archangel_-class battleship _Mephistopheles_**

"Sir, they're leveling out!" the _Mephistopheles_' weapons' officer, Ronald, exclaimed from his station on the bridge. Lee frowned as he watched his foe cease its desperate evasive maneuvers— what were they planning?

"Prepare for evasive maneuvers," he ordered. "What are they— "

Lee's words died in his throat as the _Megami_ suddenly veered up into the sky, and its dorsal armaments flashed to life. Gottfried blasts, railgun shells, and missiles slammed mercilessly into the _Mephistopheles_' armor as the _Megami_ executed a ponderous half-loop over the _Mephistopheles_' head, raining firepower on it from above.

"_Evasive action!_" Lee roared. "_Hard to port!_"

"Impossible, sir!" the helmsman, Jason, protested. "Engines are losing power! Levitator is not responding!"

The _Mephistopheles_ began to lose altitude, plunging towards the sea. Lee scowled as his ship was torn apart around him, and glanced back furiously at his foe as it slowly reoriented itself.

_Well played…_

He looked back at his crew as they struggled to stay in their chairs.

"All hands, brace for impact!"

The _Mephistopheles_ plowed into the sea, smashing its way into a sandbar. The bridge crew was thrown out of their seats as the ship finally halted in against the sandbar, half-submerged in the surf.

Lee painfully got to his feet to survey the damage. The _Mephistopheles_' engines were a smoking ruin, and the right leg and the wings had been smashed apart. The ship was in shambles— and its armaments were long gone.

Murphy, bloodied and bruised, crawled out of the darkened CIC and adjusted his cap. "Captain," he said, "we've lost main power. Auxiliary power is online, but it won't hold. The main reactor has been damaged, and it might blow. The levitator is down and the armaments are not responding. We're dead in the water, sir."

Lee rubbed his bruised shoulder and glanced around the darkened, ruined bridge.

"Give the order, then," he answered, "to abandon ship."

As Murphy disappeared back into the CIC, Lee glanced towards the Diablo Gundam, high overhead. He reached down to his belt— his sidearm was still there.

Lee determinedly stalked off the bridge.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Manila, the Philippines**

Ramon brought his beam saber down with a scream onto the Strike Rouge's shield, throwing it back. Cagalli ground her teeth as she struggled to regain control of her machine, but not before Ramon's Slaughter Dagger swooped in, swinging his beam saber at the Grand Slam sword clutched tightly in the Rouge's left hand and slicing the blade off just above the handle.

"The sword!" Cagalli cried, as the blade went spiraling into the ocean, leaving her with only a useless handle. "Dammit!" She abandoned what little was left of the sword and pulled back, drawing one of the Strike Rouge's beam sabers.

"I'm in the Phantom Pain, you bastard!" Ramon roared. "The best of the best! _You can't beat me!_"

The Dagger rushed forward, saber upraised— Cagalli swung back to deflect Ramon's deathblow with her own saber, but the force of the blow left the Rouge's arm rattling. The Dagger plunged forward, and with a crash, severed the Rouge's right arm at the elbow.

"Shit!" Cagalli screamed, as the Dagger brought its saber around for another blow. "Gotta do something— "

The Dagger brought its saber down. "Gotcha!" Ramon barked in triumph. Cagalli jammed her shield in between the Rouge's exposed side and the Dagger's saber, blocking the blow— she forced the shield forward with a kick, disconnecting it from the Rouge's arm and thrusting it forward to throw the Dagger back. Ramon threw the shield aside in frustration, turning his eyes towards the damaged Strike Rouge—

Instead, he could only scream as the Strike Rouge slammed an Armor Schneider combat knife into the Dagger's cockpit, crushing him in a gruesome shower of blood.

Cagalli jammed the knife up into the Dagger's torso, piercing the reactor, and threw the mobile suit aside. It plummeted down towards the water, where it finally exploded— and Cagalli breathed a sigh of relief.

She cast a wary glance around the battlefield for any signs of allies. The _Megami_ was cruising ominously over the bay, with the smoking, hulking ruin of the _Mephistopheles_ smashed up against a sandbar behind it. The enemies seemed to be beginning to retreat— and the enemy fleet had already done that, racing for safety in the outer reaches of the bay.

She glanced back towards the city— had they won?

——————————————————————————————————————————

Dearka landed with a crash and a pall of dust atop a skyscraper, with an anxious glance over his shoulder. Across the street, standing tall at the top of another tower, the Verde Buster clamped its beam rifles together and fired a pulsing red beam blast at the tower the Buster had alighted on. Dearka lunged off his perch, landing on his shoulder on a next-door building, and squeezed off a pair of return shots with his two stolen beam rifles. The Verde Buster vaulted out of harm's way, landing on yet another skyscraper.

"Hopping around on top of buildings is gonna get one of us killed," Dearka grunted, as the Verde Buster opened fire with a volley of missiles. The Buster returned fire with its beam rifles, blowing the missile volley out of the air. "And it's not gonna be me!"

The Verde Buster fired again with its beam rifles, adding a shot with its beam cannon and railgun— Dearka leapt off another skyscraper as its top disappeared in a plume of fire. He fired back with his own beam rifles, only to see the Verde Buster dodge again.

Dearka narrowed his eyes and dropped both of his beam rifles, switching to the Buster's high-energy rifle, and pounded off a blazing yellow shot into the top of the skyscraper that the Verde Buster was about to land on. The top of the skyscraper crumbled in a cloud of smoke and pulverized concrete as the Verde Buster landed. The newer mobile suit lost its footing, vanishing as the skyscraper began to collapse.

"Gotcha!" Dearka roared victoriously; the Buster leveled off its high-energy rifle at another tower and fired at its base, knocking the massive building to the side with the force of the explosion. The Verde Buster crashed down to the street, surrounded by the wreckage of the first building. It painfully got back to its knees and looked up—

Dearka allowed himself a self-satisfied smile as the second skyscraper smashed down on top of the Verde Buster.

"That's one way to take care of an enemy," he chuckled. The Buster stepped back and glanced around the battlefield— the enemy appeared to be retreating anyway. "Guess I better be heading back…"

——————————————————————————————————————————

Mwu found himself dodging flying train cars and trees and anything else that the Strike Noir could get its rocket anchors into as he sped through the streets of Manila. The city was rapidly running out of buildings to knock over, and Mwu could swear that if he didn't know better, the Noir's pilot was trying to provoke him into doing something stupid in order to prevent more wanton property damage.

He glanced up ahead, at a three-tiered stack of monorail tracks— they looked heavy enough to pin the Noir, or at least ward it off from a closer pursuit. He engaged the Aile pack's booster, throwing it momentarily ahead of the Noir— and that was all the time he needed to whirl around and shoot out the tracks' supports, sending them crashing down towards the street.

The Strike Noir ducked gracefully between the collapsing bridges, but as it turned its eyes back towards the Strike, it found itself facing down another beam volley. The Noir ducked aside again, but the beams smashed into the side of another building, bringing down huge chunks of concrete on top of the Noir. The newer machine staggered aside, putting its arms up to block the blow, but the monorail tracks came down with a crash next to it, throwing it to the ground. The rest of the building gave way with a pall of smoke, and the force of the collapse shook loose more debris from the building across the street, bringing it all down towards the Noir.

Sven narrowed his eyes at the falling skyscraper; the Noir lunged to the side, barely dodging the collapsing debris, and came down with a crash onto its knees. Sven leapt back to his feet and whirled around— but the Strike Gundam was already taking off.

He scowled as the dust enveloped his machine, backing away as the debris pummeled the Noir. The Strike Gundam was still as good as ever.

——————————————————————————————————————————

Dust and smoke was drifting between the quickly dwindling forest of skyscrapers that made up Manila as Yzak clashed with the Blu Duel. His more advanced foe somersaulted backwards, switching from a beam saber back to its two beam guns, and showered the Duel with beam blasts, cutting a number of deep scars into the Duel's blackened Assault Shroud armor.

The Duel ducked behind the sturdy bole of yet another skyscraper, and backed away as the Blu Duel began to puncture it with a flurry of beam shots. Inside her own machine, Mudie glanced over her screens— the battle was taking a turn for the worse. She would have to finish this enemy off quickly.

Keeping one beam gun blazing at her enemy to pin him down, she hurled her last three Stilettos into the base of the building, where they exploded with a roar. The building began to topple over towards the Duel Gundam.

Inside the Duel, Yzak cursed as he saw his hiding place come crashing down towards him. He glanced through the wreckage, finding the Blu Duel standing on the other side, beam guns raised, watching coldly.

"You can't beat me like this!" Yzak screamed. The Duel vaulted up into the air, straight towards the skyscraper. Yzak swung his shield up in front of him, firing the booster. The Duel plowed shield-first through the skyscraper, smashing out the other end, and before the Blu Duel down below could react, Yzak followed up with a railgun shot.

The Blu Duel ducked, and the shield streaked by over its head. Mudie raised her guns to return fire again, but an ominous noise from behind her cut her off—

Mudie whirled around, eyes wide in disbelief, and deployed her shield to stop a second skyscraper as it came down on top of her. The Duel landed with a crash as the tower collapsed onto its foe, blasting the machine with a cloud of debris and dust.

Yzak glanced across the battlefield for signs of life— there were none. The Duel turned and took off.

——————————————————————————————————————————

"Son of a bitch! You get back here!" Jack shrieked, as the Diablo Gundam roared after its fleeing foe, beam saber drawn back for an overhead slash. Athrun narrowed his eyes at the pursuing Gundam— the battle was coming to an end, and the _Megami_ was looking to make a swift retreat as its battered enemies struggled to regroup, so he would have to finish off the Diablo soon.

The Justice pitched down towards the water, approaching the site of the _Mephistopheles_' wreckage, with the Diablo in hot pursuit. Athrun whipped around, beam saber drawn, and brought it down with a crash against the Diablo's saber. "I can't afford this anymore!" he snapped, surging forward and throwing the Diablo back with the force of his swing. "So _go down!_"

The Diablo fired back with its CIWS guns, as it engaged its own booster to match the Justice's attack. Athrun tried to take cover behind his shield, only to remember that his shield was somewhere at the bottom of the bay— in the meantime, the bullets bounced off his Phase Shift armor as he backed away.

"_I've got you now!_" Jack shrieked— the Diablo Gundam blasted forward, beam saber drawn back for a killing charge.

Athrun's eyes flashed, as the seed fell before his eyes— he saw time slow and seized a chance—

The Diablo charged forward, saber extended— Athrun ducked to the side, slashing its arm off at the elbow with the upper end of his saber, and then bringing the lower end back up to cut into the torso and the subflight lifter. The Diablo's backpack exploded, sending a rush of fire and debris into the shattered cockpit— and, belching fire and a plume of smoke, the Diablo collapsed down into the wreck of the _Mephistopheles_.

Athrun breathed a sigh of relief, deactivated his beam sabers, and took off for the _Megami_.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation battleship _Mephistopheles_**

Lee painfully got back to his feet in the broken corridors of the _Mephistopheles_ as water began to pool in the lower parts of the ship. The vessel's remains were sliding off the sandbar and into deeper water— the crew's window of opportunity to escape was running out, as was his.

But, he thought bitterly as he clicked off the safety of his pistol, there was still something he needed to do first.

Lee staggered through the hallways, heading for what was left of the main hangar. The ruined Diablo Gundam had crashed there, so that was where Alison MacIntyre and Alfred Peterson were likeliest to be— if they weren't dead yet. Surely neither of them would simply leave Jack O'Hara where he was— Alison would want to save him, and Peterson…well, he'd want something else.

Lee shoved aside a smashed access hatch and picked his way into the hangar. The floor was buckled and water was freely seeping in, slowly rising as the ship slid off the sandbar. The Diablo Gundam, sure enough, was slumped on one side of the hangar, missing both of its arms and with a huge gash torn into its torso. There were two figures near the melted cockpit hatch— Lee rushed closer, and his eyes flashed angrily as he caught sight of Peterson with a gun pointed at Alison, as she knelt next to Jack's grievously wounded body.

"You have been nothing but an impediment to the Psyco System project!" Peterson roared. "Your sentimentality has cost us everything!"

"He's not just a weapon, Alfred!" Alison shot back.

"Enough of this!" Peterson snapped back. "You goddamned traitor! I'll kill— "

A gunshot rang out…but not from Peterson. A moment later, he slumped off the Diablo's broken body and into the rising water, a bullet hole in the side of his head. Down below, Lee holstered his sidearm and moved to climb up the Diablo's right leg.

"Don't!" Alison shouted. "The Diablo's going to blow! Get out of here!"

"Then what are you staying up there for?!" Lee demanded.

Alison looked down at Jack's body, and Lee could see the pallid face and glazed eyes of a dead soldier. He looked back at Alison.

"Somebody has to survive," she said, just loud enough for Lee to hear, "so that they can tell the story."

Lee stared ruefully at her for a moment— and then, he straightened up, offered her a sharp salute, and turned to run back to the access hatch.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The Aegis ducked underneath a towering set of cargo containers, dodging the vicious beam blasts of its Dark Dagger L opponent. Inside the Dagger, Barbosa cast a frustrated glance towards the wreckage of the _Mephistopheles_.

"He got beaten after all," Barbosa snarled. "Dammit! This has all gone to hell!"

Within the stacks of crates, the Aegis whirled around, beam rifle raised. Barbosa opened fire first, blasting at the crates and bringing them down on top of the Aegis. The Dagger vaulted into the air and took off towards the _Mephistopheles_. Barbosa frowned at the tiny orange shapes of lifeboats, bobbing helplessly in the sea as their disheveled occupants struggled to row them. He magnified one of them, and found the grizzled captain, Ian Lee, standing tall and shouting orders.

"They've seen some important military secrets," Barbosa muttered to himself, scowling hatefully at Lee. "So I'd better not leave any survivors."

Down below, Lee looked up in disbelief as he saw Barbosa's Dagger hovering overhead. It raised its beam carbine towards the lifeboats—

"_Never turn your back on a tiger!_" someone screamed.

The Aegis Gundam blasted out of the port in mobile armor mode, ignited all four of its beam sabers, and slashed off the Dagger L's limbs with a flash, clamping onto the dismembered Dagger from behind.

"_What!?_" Barbosa screamed, thrown forward in his seat.

"See ya in hell, buddy!" Andy laughed.

The Aegis fired its Scylla cannon through the Dagger's cockpit— Barbosa screamed as he vanished in the blaze. The Aegis released the dying mobile suit, letting it drop towards the water and explode in midair. The Aegis transformed back to its mobile suit mode, and took off, arcing towards the _Megami_.

Lee watched it go, and glanced back at his ship, as it slid into the water and disappeared beneath the surface.

At his side, Murphy took off his hat, holding it over his heart. "It was a fine ship," he said quietly.

Lee watched it impassively, and could only nod as the Orb Raiders made their escape.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Manila, the Philippines**

As the sun set over the demolished remains of Manila, the battlefield was quiet. The towering sentinels of a few mobile suits still lingered in the area, looking for comrades. The _John Paul Jones_ had deployed a squad of Dagger Ls to search the battlefield, but so far, they were having no luck.

The broken form of a mobile suit's hand shot up from beneath one pile of wreckage, much to the surprise of one of the patrolling Daggers. It came down with a crash atop the wreckage, and a moment later, shuddering and throwing off dust, the Strike Noir rose from the ruins. It was in a pitiable shape, dented, scarred, and battered, looking as though something had been chewing on it.

"Lieutenant Bayan!" the Dagger's pilot exclaimed. "Are you alright?"

Inside the Noir, Sven rubbed his bloodied head and glanced at his cracked and useless helmet, lying in pieces at his feet. It had probably saved his life, but damned if it didn't hurt.

"What's the situation?" he asked quietly of the Dagger's pilot.

"The enemy escaped, sir," the pilot answered, "and the fleet has suffered over fifty percent casualties. The _Mephistopheles_ went down too. We're excavating the Blu Duel and the Verde Buster as well— it looks like they're alright too."

Sven grunted in acknowledgment and glanced over at the shadowy form of the _John Paul Jones_ in Manila Bay.

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Atlantic Federation _Spengler_-class aircraft carrier _John Paul Jones_, Manila Bay, the Philippines**

It was an odd sight to find nearly three dozen orange-colored inflatable lifeboats, packed with disheveled, soaking, miserable crewmembers from the fallen _Mephistopheles_, clustered around the starboard bow of the _John Paul Jones_. But it was worth saving what crew they could— after all, they had fought well against a dangerous opponent, and could offer valuable information towards fighting that opponent again. And of course, it would look very bad to simply leave the crew of the _Mephistopheles_ to the vagaries of the sea.

Neo Roanoke thus stood on the _John Paul Jones_' flight deck, arms crossed, watching as soldiers and crew helped the _Mephistopheles_' survivors out of their wretched boats and below the carrier's deck. They would be debriefed in good time.

He smiled as he watched one soldier pull Lieutenant Commander Ian Lee aboard. Neo stepped forward, and Lee offered a weary salute.

"I regret not being able to address you as captain of a ship anymore, Colonel," Lee said ruefully.

Neo returned Lee's salute with a casual grin. "Oh, you lost one ship today, captain," he said, "but that's quite alright." He led Lee away from the rest of his crew, striding before him confidently on the flight deck. "We're building a new class of battleship at the Arzachel Crater base, the _Girty Lue_. And we're in need of a captain."

Lee blinked in shock. "But, sir, you're offering me a new command after I had my old one shot out from under me?"

"You were resourceful and innovative enough to survive having your old command shot out from under you," Neo said with a shrug. "Not many officers in the Atlantic Federation can say the same." He turned to face Lee, the Cheshire grin still on his face. "This new ship will be quite superior to your old one, and I guarantee, you will not be so poorly equipped again." His grin flashed feral. "Not when you're in the 81st Autonomous."

Lee's jaw dropped in disbelief. "Y-You want me to be in the— "

"The assignment of a lifetime," Neo answered. "What do you say, captain?"

Lee glanced back ruefully at the pillar of smoke still rising from the sandbar that marked the grave of the _Mephistopheles_.

"Very well, sir," he said. "I'll do it."

Neo grinned and clapped a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Excellent!" he said. "Welcome, Commander Lee, to the Phantom Pain."

——————————————————————————————————————————

**Orb Raiders dreadnaught _Megami_, Philippine Sea**

Sai Argyle wearily trudged back to his room aboard the _Megami_, rubbing his temples and fighting in vain to stave off a headache. Even after the ship slipped out of Manila Bay and made its escape over the island of Luzon, Sai had remained on an agonizing ten-hour shift to sweep the _Megami_'s wake and its projected course for enemy ships that might need avoiding. Now he was heading for his bunk, and as much sleep as he could get.

As he rounded a corner, he found Lacus Clyne passing by, her arms full of tools that the mechanics would undoubtedly be needing. She glanced over her shoulder at him, and offered him a sweet smile, before disappearing through another doorway. Sai smiled back weakly, even though she wasn't there. He thought back to her words and her kiss in the sweltering engine room.

The thought could not help but cross his mind that he might just be Lacus's crutch, her way of dealing with the pain that Kira Yamato had left behind in his death.

Then again, he was Sai Argyle, not Kira Yamato, and that had been good enough for her.

Sai headed back to his room. If that was good enough for her, it would be good enough for him.

——————————————————————————————————————————

The _Megami_ had taken its fair share of hits, but this time, the battle had been of its choosing— and in terms of damage to the ship, that had made a world of difference. Even in the darkness of night, illuminated only by the stars and the moon, and from his post on the open-air deck, Athrun could see that the damage was not particularly heavy— and if anything, the new scars on the ship's armor served more as a testament of the mauling it had just gone through, and the mauling it could inflict.

Athrun glanced over at Cagalli, as she stared thoughtfully at the shimmering moon and its attendant field of stars.

"I guess we got lucky," she said.

Athrun smiled wryly. "We have a way of doing that," he answered. Cagalli offered a bitter smile of her own.

"We'll have to postpone the revolution again," she sighed. "We have more repairs to make now, and I guess it wouldn't hurt to make sure they aren't still on our tail."

Athrun glanced back at the dim shape of Luzon, far to the west in the _Megami_'s wake. "After that battle, I don't think they'll be bothering us for a while." He turned back towards Cagalli. "Besides," he added, "at least we added to our reputation."

Cagalli did not smile. "We've put this off for too long," she said, "and every day that we wait and get distracted, the Seirans get stronger and do more damage to Orb." She curled her fingers angrily around the railing. "We have to get our country back."

Athrun followed her gaze, finding her looking south, towards her homeland. He put a hand on her shoulder; she jumped in surprise and looked over at him, and he offered a sheepish smile. "We will," he said. "Your father died for Orb. And we're going to save it."

Cagalli smiled back, and returned her eyes to the south, towards Orb.

——————————————————————————————————————————

End


End file.
